Blood Secrets
by invisibledarkness13xx
Summary: Kanji Haotomi transfers to Cross Academy after the death of her parents. Why did the council send a hunter after them and what secrets still surround her family? zeroxoc;AU;kinda ooc
1. Prologue

Blood Secrets

Prologue

The room was dark. And…well, just dark. I couldn't believe that we were here to kill someone. The fact that it was Asato Ichijo, one of the highest ranking vampires on the council, just made things worse.

And why was I here again? Oh. Right. Because father had disagreed with the old man on so many subjects that he and mother had seen fit to kill Asato. Of course. Why else could I possibly be standing in the huge council room in front of a giant window behind which the moon was hidden by clouds? It made _perfect _sense.

"Kanji," I turned and saw mother standing there, her eyes glowing bright red. "You understand that once the fighting starts, you must hide, yes?"

I nodded and looked out the window again. "I still don't see why we're going to kill him."

"You know why," she said, walking to my side. "Your father and I had gotten fed up with Asato's ideas. He wouldn't listen to us about important issues—the world will be better off without the stubborn old man."

"And besides," Suzuki, my older brother, stepped out of the doorway. "Don't you want things to go our way?"

I sighed. "I do, but…don't you think killing him is a bit…rash?"

"It must be done," father said, walking into the room after Suzuki. "The vampire community will be better off when he's dead."

I just looked back out the window at the dark sky. I understood why they wanted to kill him; many thought that Asato's ideas were old and needed replacing. He still stubbornly stuck with the old ways; purebloods ruled over all the other vampires; Level Es were to be killed instantly; we hid from hunters and killed humans for food….

But so much has changed now that it's impossible to stay that way. Purebloods are few, and there are only a few true, pure bloodlines left. Due to treaties, most of us could freely expose ourselves to hunters without being afraid of them, as long as we behaved while in their presence. And humans…humans were hardly a food source anymore.

And father wanted things to continue moving forward. He didn't want our family to be in charge of the vampires just because of our perfect bloodline. He didn't believe that vampires that had fallen to Level E should be killed—because he still sees ways in which to save them and bring them back up from insanity.

But no, the council refuses to listen on account of Asato's stubborn arguing. So here we were now, in a cold, dark room, waiting for the old man to come in to prepare for yet another speech he had to give to the council.

"Kanji," Suzuki came to my side. "Do you really think this is going to work?"

I just shrugged. "I don't know."

"Lier."

I sighed. That was Suzuki's power—the ability to automatically tell lie from truth. While I could shape shift and use the power of illusion, he could sense a fib before it even left your mouth.

"I know," I said. "But you really want my honest opinion? I don't think it's going to work. The entire council will come after us if we kill him—it would be better if we left him alive."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I see your point…but what would happen if we didn't kill him, hm? Nothing would go the way father planned."

"I--" I was cut off by the door creaking open. Before us stood Asato Ichijo, his beard graying and his pale face creased by lines.

"Tsuyosa-sama," he said, narrowing his eyes. "What brings you and your family here?"

He looked over each of us, calculating our every move. He knew what was going to come.

"We have been arguing over these issues for far too long, Asato." Father said, walking around in front of the old man. "And I think we both know what's best for the vampire world."

"We may," he looked father squarely in the eye. "But I think I have a better grasp on what can actually help the world, Tsuyosa Haotomi."

"Is that so? Are you sure about that?"

"Utterly positive."

Father growled, his eyes bright red. "Enough!" he snarled.

Mother stalked silently around behind Asato, prepared to literally rip his head from his shoulders. I could see it in her eyes; she would go as far as she had to in order to make the council see her and father's views on the current issues.

"Are you really going to kill me, Kirei?" Asato asked, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

She hesitated. "I will if I have to."

"Then go ahead; I'd like to see you try. Besides, it's considered an honor to be killed by the purest family in the vampire world."

She growled and shook her head before jumping at him, fangs showing and fingernails like claws. She would have been in the perfect position to swipe his head off his shoulders if he hadn't moved.

At the very last possible second, he dodged to the side. It was like he was no longer old and had suddenly been restored to his former youth. It was hard to believe that an old man like him could move so quickly.

I watched as the three of them fought and backed up silently against the wall. Blood poured out of a gash in Asato's throat and I was convinced he would go down soon. He had to. There was absolutely no way he could survive much longer with a wound as deep as that.

"So this was your plan, eh?" he panted as my parents circled him. "Kill me so that you can have your way. I see how it is."

"We know best, Asato. And you just wouldn't listen." Father said. He licked blood off of his hand.

Suzuki frowned. I glanced up at him but his face wasn't readable. He had sensed a lie, I could tell, but whose was it? At this point I could believe that any of the fighting three were lying their heads off. And lying just isn't something you do around my brother.

I was going to ask him about it when the door creaked open. And as if my heart wasn't pounding hard enough already, it sped up.

Half of the council was there, carrying paperwork and whatnot. They froze and looked at the execution about to take place in front of them.

"What--?" one of the old vampires began to ask.

"Tsuyosa-sama?" another asked, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "How—but why?"

Father leaned back on his heels. "Yes, I know. You're all appalled. I understand—you're going to banish us now."

"What? No, we can't! You're a pureblood…but still, what are you doing to Asato?"

"He would not see things from our point of view," father said. "Things are better off without him."

"Well, you can't kill him!" one of the senior council members snarled, pushing his way through the small crowd. "I don't believe this…have you given any thought to the consequences of your actions? You know the punishment for attempted murder."

"Yes," Mother said quietly.

Banishment.

"Although we cannot banish you on account of your bloodline, we can still--"

"No. You have made your intentions clear enough. We will leave." Father started walking towards the door a few yards away from me. His voice was full of regret.

"Tsuyosa," mother ran after him, her eyes full of concern.

"You realize that you will be erased from all of our records, yes?" the old vampire asked as the council swarmed around Asato.

"I understand. Good bye." Father said as he walked away without turning back. The vampire that had spoken second looked like he would run after us as Suzuki grabbed my hand and led me out through the door.

As we passed people running towards the smell of blood, Suzuki kept his eyes down.

"Who was lying?" I asked.

"Everyone. Father, the council…everyone. They were going to banish us anyway and Father has doubts about everything."

"What's going to happen now?" images of us surviving on the street flashed through my head. But that was stupid—we would find suitable living quarters somewhere.

Somewhere. What if we had to leave Japan altogether? What if we never found a good place to live? What if…what if the council sent hunters after us? Then what?

"I don't know, Kanji." Suzuki said. "I just really don't know."

**Three Years Later**

"Suzuki, what's going on?" I ran into the room to find him standing there by the window, watching something.

"They're coming," he said.

I ran to his side and saw a group of five or more hunters standing there, looking up at the mansion. I shrank back as I noticed exactly who they were: the Kiryu family, one of the most respected families of hunters in the world. And there with them was Toga Yagari, a patch over one eye.

"Suzuki, let's go." I grabbed his sleeve and after a moment he turned from the window and followed me.

We were almost to the door when it swung open and we faced my father, his eyes frantic.

"We need to run," he said, ushering us out the door. "And hide in the forest. They won't be able to find us; they're only humans."

We ran down the ornate hallway and down the back stairway hidden by a huge portrait of my grandfather's prized Hellhound. Out the back door we went, into the snowy forest.

"Now split up," he ordered. "It's the only way we can be sure they won't find us. Things are easier alone."

"Lier," Suzuki muttered as he ran in the opposite direction from us. He had the unfortunate habit of declaring whether or not someone was lying every chance he got.

Father simply melted into the shadows of the trees, leaving me completely alone. The sharp wind blew through the trees, knocking the branches together. The moon was bright in the sky, sending light down and reflecting it off the snow.

I closed my eyes and thought. Where would be the best place to hide? Someplace the humans wouldn't think a vampire would go, somewhere airy…a tree. That was it. I would climb a tree.

The wind was striking everything as I clambered up into the branches of a nearby tree, hoping that I could use my power to blend in with everything. I was too weak for shape shifting—illusion was all I had.

I looked down and realized that my footprints stood out horribly in the snow and silently cursed myself. Stupid, stupid…I should have known better. Now there was no way they _wouldn't _find me. It was like being a ghost in a psychic convention. I would stick out like a sore thumb the moment they realized I was in the tree.

My heart was pounding so loud I was sure someone would hear it. Everything was quiet—too quiet. A creeping sensation rose up my spine and I peered down through the branches, searching for someone. There just had to be someone there, and the wind was carrying their scent off the opposite direction from me. That had to be it.

Sure enough, there was someone there. I narrowed my eyes as I watched him lean down to inspect my footprints. Anger boiled up inside me. How dare he trespass onto our land and then try to kill us?

I growled and prepared myself to jump down at him. He was my age, with silver hair and a dark coat on. He was being trained to become a killer.

I sucked in a breath and jumped, ready to fight him if I had to.

Zero's P.O.V.

I leaned down, inspecting the leech's footprint. It was maybe a bit smaller than mine—which meant it was not only a vampire, but a child. Vampire children have the nasty habit of sucking the life out of you.

I heard something stirring in the branches above me and looked up only to see something land in front of me. It snarled and tried to attack me, its eyes blazing red.

I didn't have time to think as I dodged and blocked the attacks. All I knew was that a vampire was planning on killing me—and it was doing a good job of attempting to do so.

"Filthy leech," I snarled as I dodged a punch.

"Ugh!" it stepped back and I could see that it was a girl my age, with bright blue hair, wearing expensive clothes. "Don't _say _that! Don't you know that we 'leeches' are people too?"

I narrowed my eyes. "You're just hopeless parasites. Nothing more. You need other creatures to survive—and you do so by draining them of blood. Disgusting."

She growled. "Look at me! Do I look like a parasite to you? No. I look like a human-- only better. So yeah, I drink blood, but you would too if you were in my position."

She was really getting on my nerves. I wanted to just kill her now—but something made me hold back. I wanted to kill her, but couldn't. Every muscle in my body was for attacking her now as she stood still, yet I couldn't bring myself to do so.

I mentally screamed at myself. I was being stupid and letting myself think about it for too long. She was a vampire, and therefore must be killed. I was a hunter, and I was going to do my job by killing her.

But I just _couldn't. _When I looked at her, some part of me denied the fact that she drank blood to survive and was virtually a parasite. She _did _look like a human—they all did—and I had to admit, she was pretty. But she was a _vampire_—a disgusting leech.

I shook my head and looked back at her. I could just let her run and say that she got away—but then Yagari would know I was lying.

"What are you waiting for?" she yelled. "Aren't you going to kill me?"

I turned away and gritted my teeth. "Just go," I growled.

She was quiet for a minute before she said defiantly, "No."

I looked at her. "What? I'm letting you go. You can run and I won't come after you."

She shook her head and stepped toward me. "No. I want to kill you. You came onto my family's land and threatened us. I'm going to kill you."

But she didn't move; she only watched me warily. Maybe she was having the same internal argument that I was, or maybe she was just waiting to see what I would do. Either way, she didn't look like she was going to murder me.

"Who are you?" she asked finally.

I don't know why, but I answered her as if she were human. "Zero Kiryu."

"Why are you hunting us?"

"As if I would know. Why are you talking to me like this? I thought you were intent on killing me."

"Killing you won't get me very far, now would it?"

"You would know," I said. Of course I knew the Haotomi family history of attempting to kill Asato Takuma.

She just sighed when I thought she would hurt me. "I know. But really, what have we done wrong?"

"You are banished purebloods that are no longer active in the vampire community. I don't know more than that. Why do you care? Aren't you just going to try to kill the rest of us anyway?"

She shook her head slowly and sat on a rock a few feet away. She was weird alright. "I'm Kanji."

I just nodded. Why were we having this conversation? I should have killed her when I had the chance.

"You're different from the other hunters," she said. "It seems like you can actually go through though processes."

I stiffened. "The others aren't stupid."

She just smiled slightly. "They kill innocent people just for being different. It's like genocide, really."

"No it's not!" I argued. She was making my temper flare. "We kill for a reason—you vampires are threats to people. You need to be wiped out."

"And yet here we are, having a civil conversation, neither of us trying to kill anyone. Ironic, isn't it?"

I opened my mouth to talk and closed it again. She had a good point—she seemed like she was actually an interesting person.

_No—they're not people._ I thought. _They're just parasites. Don't talk to her. _

But I had to talk with her. It seemed like there was already a friendship between us. As stupid as it was, I had actually taken an interest in a vampire. But everything I had been taught went against this—vampires were evil, bloodsucking creatures, not things you could talk to like normal people.

And yet I had to keep talking with her.

"What's it like being a vampire?" I asked.

She looked down. "Nothing special."

"But it is," I said. "All the vampires look up to purebloods, don't they?"

"Oh, so they _did _teach you a bit, did they?" she asked almost hopefully.

"Of course they did. We're not as stupid as you think."

"Well, neither are vampires, so we're even." Her eyes went slightly out of focus for a moment as she was lost in thought. She turned back to me again and started talking.

And talking.

And talking.

And chattering aimlessly on about how things were when they lived with other vampires.

And talking about how things were now that they had banished themselves, with only their team of servants to talk to.

She talked all about her family and their proud history of being warlords and the purest family in all of vampire kind, and about their Hellhound breeding.

"But we unleashed all the dogs when we were banished," she said regretfully.

I stared at her. "You're saying that there are Hellhounds running loose? Are you insane? They could hurt people!"

"No, they won't. They stay to themselves; that's why you've never seen them before." She said.

"Oh. Right. Of course."

Kanji

I was actually talking to a human—and enjoying myself. He was listening to everything I said. While part of me kept thinking that he was going to betray us all and tell the hunters all I had explained to him, a bigger part yearned for a friend my age. Suzuki didn't count—he was my brother.

But Zero was really acting like a friend. He was listening (or at least pretending to) and actually taking it all in. Maybe I _could _trust him.

When the sun started peeking over the trees on the horizon and we hadn't seen any of the other hunters, he decided he had to go. I didn't want him to leave, not after I had just begun explaining the fundamentals of keeping a Level D vampire from falling to a Level E, but he had to and I understood.

"We're going to be staying here for a week or as long as it takes to kill you all," he said with a smile. "I'll find you back here at night."

"Okay," I said as I watched him walk away into the trees. When I could no longer see or smell him, I turned and went back to the mansion.

Suzuki was waiting just inside the back door. The second I walked through, he pulled me to the side and glared at me.

"Where _were _you?" he snarled. "We thought they had caught you and—what is that smell?" he wrinkled his nose. "You smell like a human. Why do you smell like a human?"

"Nothing," I tried to walk away but his grip was iron.

"Lier!" he snapped.

"Suzuki, let me go!" I ordered.

His eyes flashed red. "Not until you tell me. Where were you?"

"Nowhere."

"Lier."

"Suzuki--"

He growled and tightened his grip. "Tell me."

"Okay, fine! But you can't tell anyone."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"I was with Zero Kiryu--"

"_What?"_

"—and we were talking for a while and he's really not that bad--"

"Have you gone _insane_?" he asked, releasing my arm in shock. "He's a _hunter_!"

"I know, but he's actually kind of cool and--"

"Kanji!" I was practically tackled by my mother as she ran to hug me. "We didn't know where you were and I feared the worst, but now you're here…."

For the rest of the week, Zero and I met at the same spot every night. He revealed more about himself to me and we definitely became friends. I still had my doubts, and there was no way I was ready to trust anyone other than him, but things were starting to look slightly better in the world.

After he and the rest of the hunters left without successfully killing any of us, I was once again thrown into isolation from the rest of the world. He promised that I would see him again, but I didn't think I ever would. After all, I was doomed to be stuck in this mansion forever, cut off from the rest of the world for all eternity or until I died.


	2. Chapter 1

It was amazing. I couldn't believe it—one moment they were here, the next they were dead. They were right there in front of me, as dead as ever, and I still couldn't believe it.

I walked a few steps through the pool of blood and knelt down next to my mother. Her beautiful shirt was soaked in red.

How could I have let this happen? It was my job to make sure they were okay, what with all of the hunters coming after us. And I had failed already. I had failed in protecting my own parents, despite the fact that they thought they could take care of themselves.

I never thought anything like this could happen. I had just been taking a stroll through the snowy forest, listening to the sounds of the trees creaking in the wind. I hadn't taken into account the fact that it was so incredibly quiet; there were no animals running through the undergrowth and no birds shrieking from overhead.

It was then that I could smell it; fresh blood, coming from behind me in the direction of our mansion. I turned and broke into a run, sprinting through the trees. I had to make it back in time. There wouldn't be anyone else in the house—the servants had been given the night off and were all out in their own places. There wouldn't be anyone to protect my family.

As I ran, I wondered exactly who it was that had spilled their blood. I knew my parents well enough to say that they wouldn't have done it themselves. It had to be either other vampires or hunters.

And there weren't any vampires that knew we were here. Even the other purebloods had forgotten about my family's existence. We had gone into hiding years ago and had never left the forest since.

That meant that it had to be hunters. Only a few knew of our hiding place—Toga Yagari and the Kiryu family. And I somehow doubted that it was the Kiryus.

When I reached the mansion, the scent of blood was so strong that I could hardly pay attention to anything else. I raced up the stairs, following the smell, and burst through the door to my parents' bedroom.

I saw them there, already dead on the floor, covered in their own blood, and anger flared up inside me. I turned to the open window on the other side of the room and barely had time to notice the dark figure jumping off the balcony railing.

Amidst the smell of blood, there was another scent: Yagari. I should have known the Hunter's Association would have sent him here. Who else knew the location of our mansion _and _had the guts to take on two pureblood vampires?

I wanted to go after him. I had to. But the sight of my murdered parents kept me rooted to the spot. I could get my revenge later—now I needed to stay with them.

And so I sat for the rest of the night, next to my mother in the pool of crimson. The constant smell of blood was making me sick and I wondered if I would ever be able to drink it again. I would have to at some point—or settle for blood tablets.

I looked at the crescent moon in the sky and wondered why he had killed them. What had they done to anger the Association like that? The hunters were _supposed _have good reasons for killing vampires, especially purebloods. There were treaties that made it forbidden for humans to kill vampires without reason.

And we had done nothing. There was absolutely no reason for my parents to have died.

And now I was an orphan. What was I supposed to do after this? I couldn't stay here anymore. It would be too painful to continue living in the same house that they had been killed in.

As the sun started creeping up over the horizon, I heard the servants bursting in downstairs. They scrambled around, trying to figure out where the bloody smell was coming from.

It was a few minutes later when they finally did make it to us. I felt them gathering around in the doorway, shocked by what they saw. Now they wouldn't have anywhere to go either.

"Miss Kanji," the head butler, Chuunaru, touched my shoulder. "How did it happen?"

"Yagari," I said blankly.

They whispered amongst themselves and Chuunaru pulled me to my feet. I was barely paying attention as he took me downstairs, away from the murder scene.

As I sat in an armchair, servants flitting around as they prepared to bury my parents in the graveyard behind the house, I continued to think. Now that I was an orphan, I would have to go out into vampire community at some point. I would never be able to live on my own; most of the servants would leave to find another family at some point, leaving me to make my own way in the world.

Not to mention that I was curious about what it would be like to actually be a part of all of the fancy soirees Chuunaru had told me stories about. I could hardly remember anything from when I was young and we actually lived among other vampires.

"Miss Kanji," a maid curtsied in front of me. "We are going to bury the Masters now."

I stood up and could feel my hair color changing to black as a wave of depression swept over me. I had to watch their lifeless bodies be thrown into holes in the backyard now. And Suzuki wasn't even here to act like an idiot—he was off traveling around Tokyo because he had managed to slip away from home, telling only me that he was going to blend in and explore.

The maid led me outside to where two deep, rectangular holes were dug. The rest of the servants were gathered around the funeral sight as a few others carried my parents in crudely-made coffins.

I blinked away tears as I looked at their faces for the last time before my parents were buried forever beneath the cold ground.

One by one, the servants walked away, leaving me alone to grieve in front of the newly-fashioned and roughly-cut gravestones.

_Kirei Haotomi, _my mother's read. _A royal among royalty. _

I had never really comprehended how much I would miss her now, the way she would comfort me just before dawn, the way she laughed. Now it was all gone…I would never see her again.

_Tsuyosa Haotomi, the purest pureblood the world has ever seen. _Now Father was gone too. I wouldn't get to watch him yell at Suzuki for being a fool. I would never watch him eerily as he read an ancient book in the library.

More tears streamed down my face and I wiped them away. I had to be strong now and take care of things properly.

"I'll be back someday," I whispered. "I promise."

I walked back inside to find the servants already packing. They scurried around, taking whatever was theirs and leaving everything else as it was. If I ever came back, not a thing would have moved from its place.

"Miss Kanji," Chuunaru approached me. "I have heard stories of an academy that will take you in, if you will go."

"Where?" I wasn't feeling up to attending a school at this point.

"Cross Academy. Vampires and humans alike live at it. Kaien Cross is the headmaster—you will be taken care of there, Miss Kanji."

"Can't I just go live with Suzuki?" I asked.

"Suzuki does not have anywhere to stay," he said. "He has been traveling the streets aimlessly, trying to hide among the humans. If both of you go out into public, someone will be bound to report you to the council and then…." He trailed off.

I could see his point. It would be safer if Suzuki just did his own thing and I went to Cross Academy.

I swallowed hard and nodded. "I'll go."

I stepped out of the car Chuunaru had managed to borrow from someone and looked at my new home. Cross Academy loomed before me, its stone walls almost foreboding.

What? No. It was a school. I was just being this way because of the scents—vampire and human together, without bloodshed. I was just being skittish.

"Miss Kanji," Chuunaru handed me my bag and bowed. "I suppose this is farewell."

I nodded solemnly. "You've served my family well, Chuunaru. I hope you have a good life."

He nodded sadly and got back in the car. I didn't watch as he drove away; instead, I sighed and started walking through the gates to the Headmaster's office. It had only been a week since my parents' death and I had already abandoned my old home.

But I would go back someday—I had to. I wouldn't just leave and never return.

I squinted against the sunlight and grumbled to myself about the stupid light. It was bad enough that I had to be awake at this hour, not to mention actually outside.

I stopped in front of a door that looked promising and knocked a few times. After a few seconds, it opened and I was faced by the headmaster of Cross Academy. His long blonde hair was pulled back in a low ponytail.

"Oh, you must be Kanji Haotomi!" he said cheerfully. He opened the door wider and ushered me inside the cozy office. "Please, come in."

He gestured toward a chair and I sat down awkwardly. The entire place absolutely reeked with the strange combination of vampire and human scents. It was flooding my sinuses and giving me a headache.

"So," he sat on the other side of the desk from me and began sipping tea. "You are a pureblood vampire—possible _the _vampire of all vampires—and your family has been hidden for years. Suddenly you show up here at Cross Academy and expect things to be easy from now own…I assure you, it isn't going to be as expected."

I swallowed. "I know," I said quietly. Of course it wouldn't be easy. I was hiding from the council…it was impossible for it to be easy at this point.

He smiled. "Good. As soon as she gets here I'll have my adopted daughter give you the grand tour, but for now…let me just explain a few things.

"Here at Cross Academy, we believe in pacifism between humans and vampires. The children of well-respected vampire families (such as your own) come here not only to learn in an environment that suits their nature but to also be taught to live in harmony with humans."

"But that's impossible," I said negatively. "The overall majority of the vampire community would never--"

"Ah, but it is already beginning!" he interrupted. "The school is getting noticed by others—whether that's good or not I have yet to find out--but either way we are a fine institution of learning."

I laughed to myself. This man had once been a vampire hunter…and here he was acting all pacifist-y. It was such a huge change from the stories Chuunaru had told me when I was younger.

"I know what you're thinking," he said. "But believe me, I'm past being a hunter."

"Of course you are." I smiled. "But just out of curiosity, do you have any ideas on how to cur--"

"I'm here, Headmaster!" behind me, the door burst open and a girl stood there panting. "I ran all the way from class and—oh…are you Kanji-sama?"

I stood up and looked at her. "Yeah. And you are?"

"Yuki Cross, Disciplinary Committee member!" she absolutely beamed.

"Disciplinary what?" I asked. I seriously wouldn't be able to remember what she had just said.

"The Disciplinary Committee," she said. "Also known as the school's guardians. We make sure that the Night Class and the Day Class don't collide at dusk when they pass each other."

"Right…of course." Her peppiness was bothering me. I guess my depression was still overriding most of my brain and I just couldn't understand why people were so happy.

"Yuki, why don't you take her on the grand tour?" the Headmaster suggested.

Yuki smiled even wider and bowed to him. "Of course!" she straightened up and opened the door again. "Follow me!"

I picked up my bag and sighed. I just followed her in silence as she bounded down the corridor, happy as can be.

"So um…if you don't mind my asking…are you really a pureblood?" she turned to look at me curiously.

"Yes," I said. "Why?"

She shrugged and looked down. "I just haven't really met any kind purebloods other than Kaname-sama…."

"Who's that?" I asked.

She looked back up at me. "You don't know the Kuran family? I thought all royal vampires knew each other."

"Well…not us…we were kind of banished a while ago…."

"What? Why? I didn't know that could happen."

"Of course it can happen," wow, she was a genius. "And we left to live on our own because my parents tried to kill Asato Ichijo."

Her eyes got wide with shock. "You—they—_really_?" she squeaked.

"Yeah. It didn't really work…."

"Why though?"

I sighed. It was going to be hard to explain everything to her.

The tour itself took more than two hours. She refused to let me go to the Moon Dorm to get settled in and instead insisted that we see everything else first.

I was going to start begging her to let me go to the dorm when a sudden screaming erupted on the other side of the building where classes were held. It pounded on my eardrums, threatening to shatter them. It was the horrible, much-feared, screeching, nails-on-a-chalkboard _fan girl scream_.

"I—what's with the…." I started to ask, at this point dragging my bag behind me.

Yuki turned toward the sound and started running. "No! This took longer than I thought it would…I'm coming! Wait!"

"Where are you going?" I yelled, running after her. What was she planning on doing? One would think she run _away _from the screaming, not towards it.

"The Night Class is coming out!" she said over her shoulder. "And the Day Class is out there, just waiting to attack!"

Oh, of course. That made so much sense. If those screaming girls knew that their beloved Night Class was made up entirely of vampires, would they still scream like that? Actually, I bet they would.

We rounded a corner of the building to see a huge crowd of girls, their screams deafening, restrained by only one guy that simply glared at them. There were a few other human guys standing in the background behind the girls, all sighing because they knew they didn't stand a chance against the vampires as far as dazzling girls went.

Yuki ran ahead of me in front of the girls, blowing a whistle and waving her arms. "No mobbing the Night Class!"

I sighed. What kind of school was I going to be attending? It was like Chuunaru had conned me into this.

The girls stepped back, a bit discouraged by her arrival. After they had calmed down slightly, she motioned for me.

I walked to her and noticed the girls almost glaring at me already. They had seen me for what, a total of five seconds already? And they wanted to kill me. Wow.

"Yes, Yuki?" I asked.

"I want you to meet Zero Kiryu, the other member of the Disciplinary Committee."

The guy that had been keeping the girls from surging forward turned to look at me. It was him…the same kid I had met that day with the hunters, the same Zero that had become my best friend after only a few hours of talking. I thought I would never see him again, but here he was…just like he had promised.

"Zero?" I asked blankly.

He blinked a few times as he looked at me. "Kanji…KANJI!!"

I dropped my bag as he ran to me. He grabbed me in a suffocating hug and twirled me.

"I can't believe it's really you!" I said as he set me back on my feet.

"Me neither," he looked around at the awestruck girls. "What are you looking at?" he snarled.

They shrank back several feet.

"Um…do you know each other?" Yuki asked.

"No Yuki, I just magically know a random person's name." he said sarcastically.

"Oh…of course."

"Come on," he led me away and we started talking once we were away from everyone.

It was when we were standing next to a marble fountain and I was away from the haze of mixed scents that I realized it. Zero…wasn't human. It wasn't just that the vampire scent from the Moon Dorm had covered him, but he had absolutely no human scent whatsoever.

"Zero…" I stopped and looked at him. "When…when were you bitten?"

He sighed. "Shizuka Hio attacked my family four years ago. Only Ichiru and I survived…and he's a traitor. Ever since, I've been a bloodsucking parasite."

He said it as a joke, but I couldn't help but wonder how much he hated himself right now. He despised vampires. Now that he was one….

"How have things been going?" I asked.

He looked at me. "I hate it," he said flatly and honestly. "How do you live with it, this constant urge for blood? It's disgusting."

"That's how we live," I said. "You can't survive without blood. And if what you say is true, you've survived for a while…."

"Oh, shut up." he grumbled.

Poor Zero. A former hunter turned into a vampire….

But that meant he was a Level D and would eventually descend into total insanity as a Level E…and I would lose him forever.

"Have you attempted to drink Shizuka Hio's blood?" I asked. If he got her blood, seeing as she was the one that bit him, he could be cured from insanity and stay as a Level D.

"She's dead," he said roughly.

"I—she's what_?_ _Dead_? As in…she's _dead?_" I asked. How did that happen?

"Yes. Forever."

This was going to be harder than I thought. Zero could always drink my blood…the pureness of it would keep him sane for all eternity. But…he couldn't…not after what had happened all those generations ago….


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It must have been half an hour later when Yuki stormed up, dirt all over her face and clothes, glaring at both of us.

"Why did you leave?" she demanded. "The girls immediately trampled me and went for Kaname-sama!"

"Good for them," Zero said neutrally. "You were the one that took two hours giving Kanji the tour."

"That's beside the point!" she snapped. She looked down and sighed. "I wish they would just find out that the Night Class members are all vampires and be terrified of them…."

"Well, good luck with that."

She just sighed again. "Rima's waiting for you outside the dorm, Kanji. She'll show you around. Zero, you're coming with me!" she grabbed his arm and started dragging him away.

"Bye Kanji," he said as he followed her.

"Yeah," I called. I picked up my bag and walked to the Moon Dorm where I saw a girl in a Night Class uniform waiting for me.

She bowed as I approached. When she straightened back up again, she smiled. Her long hair was pulled into two pigtails.

"I'm Rima Touya," she said. "If you don't mind, we've decided that you can move into the room with Seiren and me."

"No, that's fine," I smiled and tried to act friendly.

"Okay…follow me then." She led the way through the huge doors and into the elegant front room of the Moon Dorm.

Everything about it reminded me of the days before we went into our isolation…the ornate stairway, the beautiful couches, only the finest materials used for building...it was just like our old mansion.

Rima continued up the stairs and to another door. It opened into a huge room, three canopy beds in the corners. I walked to the one that seemed like it wasn't taken and put my bag down on it.

"This is…amazing," I breathed.

"We like it," she said as she walked to my side, a white Night Class uniform in her hands. "Here; you should change. I'll be waiting downstairs."

She bowed and walked out, leaving me alone. I looked at the uniform in my hands and sighed before changing into it. It was rather boring…it needed something to liven it up. I dug through my bag until I found what I was looking for; tall red and white striped socks. Just to make things more interesting, I figured I'd put them on in place of the boring black socks. And to match the red on the socks, why not just change my hair color too?

Pleased with myself, I walked out to meet Rima again. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs holding a pile of books.

"Oh, are you a shape shifter of some kind?" she asked.

"Yeah," I ran a hand through my fire-red hair. "You like it?"

"Of course," she held the books out to me. "These are yours."

"Thanks," I took the books and followed her out again. The crowd of girls had mysteriously disappeared altogether and the place seemed suddenly peaceful.

"So what was with all the screaming girls?" I asked.

"They're like the Night Class' fan club," she said. "Because we vampires as so attractive to humans and they don't understand what we are, they swarm around us every time we come out of the Moon Dorm."

"Don't you think that's kind of…idiotic?"

"Oh, of course it is. The thing is, Kaname-sama insists that we be kind to them so that we can continue attending Cross Academy like this."

"I see," of course…Kaname. How could I have forgotten his name earlier when Yuki had been talking about him? Kaname Kuran would definitely be the one that kept anyone from attacking the Day Class. Just him being him was enough to convince me that he was the sole reason that the school remained peaceful.

"You know Kaname-sama, don't you?" she asked.

I smiled. "Yes. Ever since we were little."

"It seems like that's how it's been with all of us here," she said. "He was quite the social butterfly."

I stifled a laugh. Of _course_ he could be compared to a butterfly.

"Well, this is the school building," she said as we entered the main building of the campus. "We share it with the Day Class, in case you didn't already figure that out."

She opened the door to a classroom and led me in. There sat the entire Night Class and one respectable-looking teacher.

"This is Kanji Haotomi," Rima said importantly.

I swallowed my nerves and remembered all the lessons that I had gotten about speaking in public and such.

"It's an honor to be here," I said. Really, it was all I could think of at the last minute.

"It is an honor to have you here," the teacher said. He motioned towards the desks. "Just take a seat anywhere."

I walked up to the back of the room while Rima took her own spot next to the other girls.

And yes. I dared to sit next to none other than the resident pureblood himself.

"Kanji," he bowed his head.

"Fancy meeting you here," I said.

He didn't say any more and I was silent for the remainder of the class. I had known him practically since we were born. Our families had been old friends—as two pureblood families naturally would be—so of course they saw fit to constantly have us together.

As was to be expected, I paid absolutely no attention to whatever lessons we were supposed to be getting and instead let my mind wander.

We had been together for so long, and then my family had gone into banishment and all contact with the Kurans had been cut off…I had forgotten about him for all those years alone with only Suzuki and the servants to talk to.

I suddenly sighed, remembering yet another issue I had to deal with from my past. It was only to be expected that our families would arrange something like that.

"Are you planning on getting up?"

I looked up to see that Kaname had stood and was beginning to leave. He smiled slightly and I silently hissed. Even with his friendly glowing eyes I knew he was keeping huge secrets.

His smile was concealing all the hardships of the Kuran family. I knew his parents were dead—a maid had come back from town bearing the news. And I knew that he was the only one at the school besides Zero, Yuki, and the headmaster that knew of my lineage.

I had to make him keep that secret. There was no way I wanted everyone here to know that I was of the family that had been banished for such a wondrous crime as attempting to kill Asato.

Especially while Asato's grandson was here. Poor, poor Takuma Ichijo. He had to deal with that monster of a vampire.

"Kaname, I need to talk to you." I pulled him off to the side while the others started getting up and walking out.

"Yes, Kanji?" he asked.

"I have a favor to ask of you," I said. "Can you…kind of…not tell anyone about me being a pureblood?"

He just stared at me. "Why?"

"I don't want them to know that it was my family that tried to kill Asato all those years ago," I explained. "Since our name was wiped from all the records kept, I figured it would be fine to still go by Haotomi, but if they figure out that I'm a pureblood they might get suspicious because they haven't met me before."

He just sighed and nodded. "I'll keep your secret. But only if you act like you're not my superior."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine then, Kaname-sama."

"Without the eye-rolling, please."

I stifled a sigh and straightened up. "Yes, Kaname-sama!" I said, imitating Yuki.

He smiled. "Wonderful. I'd like to see more of that."

_You're kidding me, _I thought as I followed him out. This _is what I have to go through to ensure he keeps my secret? Ridiculous. _

"And another thing," he said, looking over his shoulder. "This also means that I get to order you around."

I was awestruck. He was certainly full of it today. "Yes, Kaname-sama," I gritted my teeth in an effort to not kill him.

I followed the others out and realized that it was early in the morning—around two or so—and I had no idea what we were supposed to do for the rest of the night.

"Kanji Haotomi?" I turned and saw a few of the others looking at me expectantly.

"Um…yeah?" I asked.

"We just wanted to introduce ourselves," the blonde girl said. "I'm Ruka Souen. This is Akatsuki Kain and Hanabusa Aido."

"We're very pleased to make your acquaintance," Aido said. He opened his mouth and ran his tongue across his fangs.

"Hanabusa, can you just behave yourself for once?" Kain asked exasperatedly.

Aido didn't say anything and just looked away.

"Welcome back, Night Class!"

I sighed. It was Yuki. Was there no end to her happiness? It seemed like she was just overflowing with joy and spontaneous pep.

"Thank you for doing this every day," Kaname said. "We appreciate it."

I watched as he and Zero, who I was sure Yuki had dragged along unwillingly, locked eyes. Kaname knew Zero was a vampire, now did he? Of course he did. He was all-knowing like that.

As I walked past him, I punched his arm lightly. "Aw, come on Zero."

He just sighed. "You don't know the half of it."

"Oh, but I do! I also know that you're going to keep my secret without forcing me to act like you're the superior around here."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is there a story behind this?"

"Yes, yes there is. I'll explain later."

I smiled at him and ran after the others as they walked in. They all just basically spread out in the front room, laying on the couches and such.

"So you're on speaking terms with Kiryu?" Rima asked.

"Yeah," I said. "We've known each other since…well, for a while."

"That's amazing," Kain said, leaning over the back of a couch. "He loathes vampires."

"He's really not that bad," I said. "I mean, yeah, when you first meet him he's kind of a jerk but afterwards he lightens up and you can actually talk to him without being a gun point…."

"Then that makes you the only one besides Yuki that can actually talk to him," Rima half-heartedly smiled.

"Right," I smiled back. "I guess I'm just amazing like that."

This was intriguing…I was actually getting along with other vampires. It was like I didn't have to worry about them getting mad at me at all. I had expected them to be at least a little distant with me for the first few weeks, but on the first day I could actually joke with them. Amazing.

Kain

Who exactly _was_ this new girl? She acted all-powerful but then allowed gang-leader Kaname to order her around. She didn't seem like she was just an aristocrat…could she possibly be a pureblood? She had the air of importance that made one think she was, but if so then she was Kaname's equal and therefore wouldn't allow him to act as her superior.

Unless they had struck some kind of secret deal. That would make things so much clearer…he kept some secret for her and she did whatever he told her to.

She was intriguing to say the least. She was a shape shifter? That was impressive. And walking into a room with Ruka Souen and socks that don't match the rest of your uniform? That's just…once again, impressive.


	4. Chapter 3

**_A/N so i realized that i hadn't done an A/N for this story so far...sorry about that._ _I don't really have much to say at this point except that i'm sorry i haven't updated this in a while....And please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors, I don't usually go over things much. _**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters and/or settings; those belong to Matsuri Hino. Only Ocs and plot are mine.**

Three

I awoke to the sounds of people rushing around. When I sat up and rubbed my eyes, I saw that Seiren and Rima were up and about already, obsessively chattering and rearranging furniture.

"What's going on?" I slurred. I was never the type that liked to be woken up at early hours like this.

"Well, Ichijo decided that we should have a party for Kaname-sama." Seiren explained.

"It's his birthday," Rima added as she picked up her bedside table and moved it to the corner.

"And he unfortunately just chose to inform us now," Seiren said. "We didn't want to wake you up, since it's only your second day here."

"Thanks," I mumbled. "So, exactly what kind of party are we having here?"

Rima shrugged. "Yuki is supposedly in on it too, so who knows what she'll think of."

I grunted and rolled out of bed rather than standing up. I just stayed there on the floor for a minute, too lazy to move.

"Is this how you are every time you wake up?" Seiren asked.

I cracked an eye open and looked at her. "Yes."

She sighed and put down the vase she was looking at. "Come on."

She grabbed my arm and pulled me up so forcefully I thought it was going to rip out of its socket. When I was finally standing on my own, she proceeded to dust me off as if I was a doll or something.

"Now get dressed," Rima ordered. "In whatever you have that's the flashiest."

"Okay," I said in a daze. I pulled my bag out from under my bed and dug through it until I discovered something that could work; a blue and black corset top. After that I found a plain black long-sleeved shirt that I could wear under the corset and plain black pants.

"That's good," Rima said. "Trust me; I work in the fashion industry."

"Since when…what?" I asked as she started pushing me out the door. "Fashion industry?"

I didn't get an answer and instead just sighed and trudged to the bathroom not far down the hall. I then set about changing out of my pajamas and into the party attire. At least today was Saturday; that meant no classes.

I looked at myself in the mirror and watched my hair change from blood red to sapphire blue. I wanted to be able to change more, to totally change my form and run around as a dog or something, but I knew I couldn't. I didn't want to push my luck as far as keeping my pureblood-ness a secret went.

Sighing, I walked back out to the hallway and almost ran over someone.

"Sorry," I apologized. Looking up, I discovered that it was Kain. Dang, he was tall. I felt like a dwarf.

"No problem," he said. "Does…does your hair color change that often?"

I laughed kind of awkwardly. "Yeah, actually…that's my power, see; I'm a shape shifter, so…."

"That's pretty impressive for an aristocrat," he said, leaning back against the wall.

Oh, come on! Why did he have to be all smart and figure it all out like that? And so quickly too….

"Yeah, I guess it is," I said, crossing my arms and trying to act like I wasn't threatened by the fact that he knew my big secret.

He just smiled. "So, are you enjoying it here?"

"Yeah, it's great." I looked past him at Ichijo and Aido, who were standing down the hall arguing about something. "Uh…do you throw parties like this often?"

"Not really. But you've seen Ichijo…he gets obsessive with these things sometimes."

"Right…so I'll see you later, okay?" I started walking back to Rima and Seiren, who were undoubtedly waiting for me.

"Yeah."

Kain was either smarter than the others, or just naturally suspicious. He had figured out that I was a pureblood on only my second day here. What was I supposed to do now? On top of all my other problems, there was this.

Just before I reached the door, Rima burst out.

"Oh, Kanji," she said. "Give your other clothes to Seiren. Come on."

She took my arm and started leading me down the stairs. Seiren grabbed my pajamas and disappeared back into the room.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're supposed to be waiting outside for Yuki," she answered. "Apparently she's got something big planned."

"Okay then," I said as I tried not to fall down the stairs as she pulled me. "Why is she such a big part of all this party-planning?"

"Because she's a Disciplinary Committee member. She knows all about us and isn't really a threat to anyone, so if you add all this up then of course Ichijo would want her to be helping through all this."

She dragged me across the front room where Senri Shiki and Ruka were moving furniture and out the front door.

I dug my heels into the ground and cringed back, shading myself with my arm. It was still rather light out and the sun was absolutely burning me.

"It's too bright," I said.

"I know, but come on!" she started pulling my arm again. "It's not that bad, it's almost twilight!"

I growled tried to run back to the dorm. If I could just get away from her, I could crash on a couch and sleep some more….

"Don't even think about it," she pulled harder to the point where I was so unbalanced I was practically already on the ground.

I eventually gave up trying to resist and just went with her to the gate. Once there, I promptly sat down and sighed. It was just my luck that I'd be stuck at a school where you can't even sleep peacefully because of a party for the pureblood that had ignored you while you were banished. Really, he could've at least written or something. Maybe then I wouldn't have forgotten about him.

"Oh, come on. Don't look so depressing." Rima said.

I just grunted and looked up, squinting against the dim sunlight. "But maybe I just am depressing."

"Now really, Kanji. It's just a little sunlight, it won't kill you!"

"How do you know?"

"No one's ever died from too much exposure to sunlight, and I doubt you're going to be the first."

"There's a first time for everything," I grumbled as I looked away.

I watched the clouds in the distance as Rima chattered about something involving cake. I really didn't care that much about what she was saying; cake has never been my number one priority.

The sun had started to set when she sighed in relief. "There she is."

I followed her gaze and saw Yuki walking towards us, Zero behind her. He was carrying several bags worth of stuff for her and didn't look happy about it.

I stood up as they approached and Rima made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat. Really now, how rude had Zero been lately? I made a mental note to teach him some manners.

"Hello Yuki, Zero." Rima said. "Come inside and Ichijo will attack us and tell us what to do next."

She led the way up to the dorm, talking with Yuki while Zero and I walked behind them.

"So, how's your day been so far?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yuki dragged me out this morning to town and I've been carrying bags for her while she shops while you've been sleeping." He answered irritatedly. "How about you?"

"I was woken up about an hour ago by Seiren and Rima chattering and moving furniture, after which I changed into this because it was the best outfit I could find, discovered that Kain knows my secret, and was then forced into sitting here in the sunlight watching clouds while Rima waited for you and Yuki to show up."

He looked me over. "You look nice."

"I—really? You think so?" a strange flutter ran through my chest and the more girlish side of me that craved compliments and attention almost made me blush.

Wait. Did this mean that I was growing to _like _him? As in _like_ like him? Was this going to be one of those tiny little crushes that eventually turn people into the jealous-girlfriend types?

No. I wouldn't let it get like that. If I _did _discover myself becoming more and more obsessed with Zero, then I would obsess gracefully. Not like a fan girl.

We walked through the Moon Dorm doors to find Ichijo ordering everyone around in a dictator-like fashion.

"Akatsuki, if you could move that table to the other wall so that we can set things up, I would greatly appreciate it." he said.

Kain just sighed and picked the small table up.

"I see that you're not actually doing anything of much physical labor," I muttered.

Unfortunately, Ichijo heard me.

"I planned everything out," he said, absolutely beaming. "That's much more important than moving furniture."

He was acting like such a fake. "Could it just be that you're a wimp?" I wondered out loud.

It looked like he had been hit by a brick covered in small harpoons. "I—what?"

"Nothing," I shrugged and walked past him to Yuki. "So, what exactly is in these bags?"

"Oh, well Ichijo asked me to pick up the cake he ordered, so of course there's that…and I also brought _Dance Dance Revolution_."

What was she talking about? What was a "Dance Dance Revolution"? I had never heard of it before. "Um…what exactly _is _that?"

"Oh, right, I guess you wouldn't know, huh?" she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Uh…well, it's a video game, and…you'll just have to see."

She walked back to Zero and took the numerous bags from him and I was left standing there, still wondering. Strange. I hadn't really thought that this was the kind of place for video games.

"Kanji, if you're going to criticize me like that, then I would expect you do move furniture with the others!" Ichijo said.

I rolled my eyes. "What do you want me to do then?"

"Just drag that couch a few feet to the left. No, the right. Wait, better stick with left."

I sighed and walked to the end of the couch. Grabbing the arm of it, I pulled it back a few feet, making horrible screeching noises against the floor.

"Is that good enough for you?" I asked, gritting my teeth.

"Hm…not quite. A bit further, please."

"Oh, if only I didn't have all these lovely secrets to keep," I mumbled. "Then I could hurt him. Scare him out of his wits. Use him as bait to get the hellhounds back at my side."

"Did you say something?" he asked.

"No, nothing." I pulled the couch another foot or so and noticed everyone else in the room wincing and covering their ears against the sound of the legs scraping against the floor. "How's that?"

A look of hard concentration passed over his face. He was really thinking about this. "I…no. It's just not right…something about this location…what if you pushed it the other way? Try that."

"Ichijo, this isn't a total dorm makeover," Kain said.

"I know, but everything has to be perfect for Kaname-sama. Trust me; I know what I'm doing."

I growled to myself and pushed the couch back the way it had come, the metallic screeching piercing my eardrums. If I had to take much more of this I was going to crack.

"No, push it a little further," Ichijo insisted.

I did as I was told and clenched my jaw to avoid doing anything I'd regret later.

"Wait, pull it back the way it came a bit."

And so I pulled it back a few feet.

"That's perfect!"

I sighed. It was exactly where it had started out. Why did _I _have to get sucked into this?

For another half hour, all we did was adjust furniture to fit Ichijo's demands while he stood in the middle of us and yelled orders. What an idiot.

Finally, when he was convinced things were perfect and everyone was exhausted anyway, he decided it was time to get Kaname.

"But…he's still sleeping," Aido said.

"We can't wake him up at this hour," Shiki agreed. "It's still too early. He'll kill us!"

"But still, we need him to wake up," Ichijo said determinedly. "So…um…who wants to volunteer? Anyone?"

We all looked at each other. I glanced up at Zero as he stood next to me just because he was there. I found him looking down at me anyway.

"What?" I asked, looking around to discover that everyone else's eyes were on me too. "Seriously? I don't want to be the one that gets ripped apart because he doesn't wake up in a good mood!"

Still, they looked at me expectantly and I groaned. I had known for years that he didn't like to be disturbed while sleeping.

"Well, you've known him almost all your life," Rima pointed out.

"And because you're new here he'll probably want to be more polite and he won't hurt you as much." Ruka said disdainfully.

Whoa, what was her problem? I think she had possession issues or something….

"Then it's decided!" Ichijo said. "You'll be the one to wake Kaname-sama and bring him down to the party."

"But--" I started to protest.

"Come on, no arguing now!" he pushed me up the stairs. I tried to escape, looking to Zero and Kain for help, but they only turned away. Great.

I grabbed onto the railing and used it as an anchor as Ichijo continued trying to drag me down the hall. I wasn't going in there! Not with him sleeping like that!

"You can't make me!" I said.

"Oh, come on!" he pulled harder and we were at the point where the railing post was close to snapping when I finally lost my grip and he literally threw me through the door.

I landed with a crash on a chair and jumped up immediately, ready to see Kaname coming to kill me for disturbing him.

But there was only silence and the sound of peaceful breathing coming from the four-poster bed across the room. How was I supposed to wake him like this? I could picture it now. I would timidly approach him, maybe poke him a couple of times, and he would spring up, his hand around my throat.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, trying not to picture anything else. Well, if I was going to die, at least I knew it was because of a party.

_Oh yes—because that's such a good reason to sacrifice yourself like this, _I thought. _Great way to go—being murdered by Kaname Kuran because Ichijo made you wake him up for a party. Lovely._

I sucked in a breath. I had to at least try to wake him without dying, now that I was here. There was no point in not.

"K-Kaname?" I asked. My voice sounded so loud in the quiet room, I was sure he had heard it.

But he didn't move. Nothing changed. Was he _really _that deep of a sleeper? It was kind of sad.

"Kaname?" I asked again, this time louder. I walked to the side of the bed and swept the curtain aside to see him sleeping there.

He looked eerily peaceful and I almost didn't want to wake him just because of that totally innocent vibe he was giving off.

But I would never hear the last of it if I just decided to let him stay that way.

"Are you going to get up or not?" I asked crossly. Ranting would probably be the best way to go. "I mean really, look at you! Just laying there like a rock…and it's your birthday too! Seriously. Wake up, sleeping beauty!"

He turned over so that he was not longer facing me.

"Kaname, really. Are you honestly trying to wake up? Because I don't think you are. And I'll keep bothering you until you finally acknowledge me in some way."

Slowly, he sat up and looked at me, his eyes glowing bright red. "Who sent you?" he growled.

"I—um…happy birthday?" I said as he stood up.

I thought he smiled slightly as he walked to me and brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes. "They aren't waiting with a party downstairs, are they?"

"Uh, yeah, about that…."

He just sighed. "Tell them I'll be there in a minute."

As I turned to leave, he grabbed my wrist and spun me around to face him. "You know, you look beautiful tonight."

I growled. "Don't try anything."

"Why so cold with me? After all, we are--"

"Yes, I know." I interrupted, pulling away from him. "I'll tell the others you're coming."

I walked back out into the hallway, trying to forget what he'd said. I didn't want to think about it.

When I appeared at the top of my stairs with my arms crossed, the others looked up at me, expecting to see me with a broken arm or something.

"He'll be here in a minute," I said.

"Wonderful!" Ichijo somehow appeared at my side. "I knew I chose the right person when I sent you!"

Yes. Of course.

I walked down to where everyone was waiting and spotted Zero leaning against the wall near the door. He really didn't look like he was having fun.

"Hello Mr. I Hate My Life. How's it going?" I asked cheerfully.

He looked down at me and smiled. "I don't hate _every _aspect of my life. Just the bits concerning vampires."

"Yeah, that's most of your life, genius." I reminded him.

He rolled his eyes. "You can be an idiot sometimes, you know that?"

I could tell he was joking. "I'll take that as a compliment."

When Kaname walked out to the top of the stairway, Ichijo once again jumped up and started taking charge.

"Happy birthday, Kaname-sama!" he said happily.

Everyone besides Zero echoed him, including myself. Ichijo ran to the top of the stairs, grabbed Kaname's arm, and led him back down to force him into cutting the cake.

And so the birthday festivities began.

I hadn't been to any parties very recently, seeing as there was the whole banishment and isolation thing there for a while, and was just finally starting to get used to everything when Yuki grabbed my arm and started dragging me over to where we had somehow managed to set up a flatscreen TV.

"What?" I asked.

"We're going to play DDR!" she said happily.

I was cluelessly silent for a moment.

She sighed impatiently. "You know, _Dance Dance Revolution_?"

Oh, _that_ was what she was talking about…. "Okay…so…what about it? I have no idea how to play, I hope you realize…."

"Oh, I know." She smiled brightly. "But I was wondering…."

"What? What were you wondering?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would help me force Zero into playing."

I blinked several times and stared at her. She wanted Zero to play a dancing game in a party full of vampires? Really, how suicidal _was_ she? "I don't think that's possible, Yuki…."

"Oh, come on! We should at least _try _to make him enjoy himself!"

I sighed. There was no way she was going to give up on this. "Okay, fine. I'll help you."

"Alright, I'll stay here while you go and convince him."

She gave me a little shove towards where he was standing near the wall probably trying to imagine that he wasn't in a room full of vampires.

"So…how's it going?" I asked lamely.

"Fine, for being stuck in a room full of leeches." He said.

Right. Well, he was certainly a killjoy. "Yuki sent me to force you to play DDR."

"I'm not going to play," he said without looking at me. "I've never played before and I have no idea why she thinks I would want to."

"Oh, come on. Just one song? Please? For me?"

He sighed. "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Only one song, and don't remind me about it. Ever."

I smiled as he walked over to where Yuki was waiting expectantly. She took his arm and led him over to where the game was set up in front of the TV.

"Is he actually going to play?" Kain asked as I walked past him, following Yuki and Zero.

"Yeah," I said. "Weird, huh?"

He just nodded.

I leaned over the back of the couch and watched as Yuki picked the song "Lips Of An Angel" for Zero.

"Set it on expert," Aido suggested.

"I don't care what you set it on," Zero grumbled.

"Expert it is then!" Yuki said happily.

I watched as the screen changed and the song started. The little arrows started flying up it and my eyes widened as Zero pulled the moves off perfectly. If I tried something like that, I would hurt myself and probably everyone around me. Hadn't he said that he'd never played the game before?

I just sighed, closed my eyes, and tried to just pay attention to the lyrics.

Honey why are you calling me so late?  
It's kinda hard to talk right now  
Honey why are you crying, is everything okay?  
I gotta whisper cause I can't be too loud

Well, my girl's in the next room  
Sometimes I wish she was you  
I guess we never really moved on

It's really good to hear your voice saying my name  
It sounds so sweet  
Coming from the lips of an angel  
Hearing those words it makes me weak

And I never wanna say goodbye  
But girl you make it hard to be faithful  
With the lips of an angel

It's funny that you're calling me tonight  
And yes I've dreamt of you too  
And does he know you're talking to me?  
Will it start a fight?  
No I don't think she has a clue

Well my girl's in the next room  
Sometimes I wish she was you  
I guess we never really moved on

It's really good to hear your voice saying my name  
It sounds so sweet  
Coming from the lips of an angel  
Hearing those words it makes me weak

And I never wanna say goodbye  
But girl you make it hard to be faithful  
With the lips of an angel

It's really good to hear your voice saying my name  
It sounds so sweet  
Coming from the lips of an angel  
Hearing those words it makes me weak

And I never wanna say goodbye  
But girl you make it hard to be faithful  
With the lips of an angel

And I never wanna say goodbye  
But girl you make it hard to be faithful  
With the lips of an angel  
Honey why are you calling me so late?

When he had finished with 100%, everyone was silent. Yuki burst out cheering after several seconds and I couldn't help but clap with the others.

"You sure you've never played before, Kiryu?" Kain asked.

"Yeah. I'm positive." Zero said as he walked away from the TV. I followed him as Aido started a song.

"Hey, that was pretty amazing," I commented when I caught up with him. "Have you got some sort of natural dancing talent that you never told me about?"

He turned to face me. "I told you, don't remind me about it."

"Okay, sorry. But really, that was pretty awesome…."

"The holidays are coming up soon. Are you going with the others or staying here?" he asked, changing the subject.

I hadn't given much thought to that. I mean, it was only my second day at the school. I had totally forgotten that Christmas was nearing. I didn't have anywhere to go, and I didn't really want to go with the others.

"I dunno…I don't really have anywhere to go, so if I _did _leave with the others it would mean staying with someone at their mansion…could I just stay here with you and Yuki?"

"Of course you can stay with us!" Yuki said happily. Apparently she had been stealthily walking up behind me during the entire conversation. "That'd be great!"

I sighed. Well, at least I knew I had a place to go over break. I just had to survive another week or so and endure the screaming of the fan girls a few more days before school got out.

I had the horrible feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded.


	5. Chapter 4

**_A/N Hello everyone! *waves madly at screen* this chapter was greatly inspired by a video my friend and I saw on youtube called "Vampire Knight Crack". If you want to check it out, go ahead, it's great. That's really all i have to say...oh right. I really enjoy reading reviews so if you can just spare a second of your time to write one it would be much appreciated :)_**

Four

Sadly, because the holidays were so soon, the Day Class girls were even worse than I could have imagined.

On Monday, as we walked out to the school building, it felt like my head was going to explode. The constant screaming of the girls pounded against my eardrums in an excruciatingly painful manner.

How was I expected to survive here?

"You'll get used to it eventually," Kain said as he walked past me.

"How?" I asked.

He shrugged. "You could always try using earplugs. Or maybe you'll just get to the point where you don't care about it anymore."

"Yeah. Right." I grumbled. "See you later, Kain."

I walked over to where Zero was standing and looked up at him. Why was every guy at this school so tall? It made me feel like a midget.

"So, how's it going?" I asked.

"It's a Monday," he growled.

"So…I'll take that as a 'oh, everything's fine'. Sound good to you?"

He stared at me. "There's something wrong with you, Kanji. Really."

I smiled. "I know."

I looked around and realized that the fan girls were glaring at me with that horrible, evil glint in their eyes. What had I done to them to make them so mad? Vicious fan girls are not a force to be reckoned with.

Oh. I had been talking to Kain and Zero.

And now the girls thought that I was a threat. Great. Just another thing to add to my list of horrible issues to deal with.

"So, uh…I'll see you later," I said, backing away from their angry stares and eventually just turning around and walking after the others, glancing over my shoulder every few steps only to see them continuing to watch me.

"Hey there," Aido said, his arm creeping around my shoulders. "How are you this fine evening?"

"Back off," I snarled.

He jumped away a few feet but was undeterred and continued to follow me. "So I've been thinking…."

"Oh really? Is that a big accomplishment for you?"

He ignored me and continued talking. "How about I take you out on a date tonight? We can skip class, just you and me. What do you say?"

"I'd have to say no, because as far as I can tell, you just want my blood. You can't have it." I said, walking away.

"IDOL!!" the fan girls surged toward him, tears streaming from their eyes.

I just kept walking. There was no need to watch them fret over him in all his rejected glory. That was his problem, not mine.

I noticed that Kaname and Zero had been watching the entire time, from opposite angles, and smiled to myself. Oh how they must have wanted to go and rip Aido's head off right then. I was surprised that they didn't; Zero obviously hated the vampires here and therefore one would think that he would've had Aido at gunpoint while Kaname can tend to get…over-possessive at times.

Ah well. I would always have another chance to watch them fight someone.

Zero

What was that leech Aido doing? Trying to get Kanji's blood, no doubt. But she was going to reject him, right? She had to. She wasn't the type of person that would let him take advantage of her, was she? No. She wasn't.

My hand hovered near the Bloody Rose gun at my side as I tried to make up my mind about whether or not I should hold it against Aido's head. Should I? Or would that just make Kanji mad?

A sudden screaming from the girls woke me from my thoughts and I breathed a sigh of relief. She had rejected him. He wasn't getting her blood any time soon.

Speaking of which, why hadn't she offered any of her blood to _me? _She knew that I was going to lose all of the human side of me eventually and just go insane. The pureness of her blood could heal me forever and keep me at Level D.

So why hadn't she? She never acted like she didn't like me, so it wasn't like she thought I would be a waste of time. And when she had first shown up here and found out about my vampirism she seemed like she really cared about the fact that I was going to fall to Level E eventually. So what was holding her back?

I wanted to ask her about it, but it just wouldn't be right if I did. What if she had a really good reason for not letting me have any and would be offended if I asked for some? If she got mad at me…I don't know what I would do.

As the Night Class entered the school building and the Day Class girls went back to their dorm, I left Yuki to start patrolling on her own.

"Where are you going?" she asked as I started walking away.

"I have to talk to the headmaster," I said over my shoulder.

"About what? Can't it wait until _after_ we patrol?"

I didn't answer and instead just kept walking. I needed to know if the headmaster knew about whatever it was that was keeping Kanji from letting me drink her blood. Knowing him, he probably knew all about it.

Not to be bothered by formalities, I neglected knocking and simply barged through the door and into his office to find him sipping coffee at his desk.

"Evening, Zero." He said happily. "Why aren't you out on patrol?"  
"What do you know about Kanji?" I asked.

He sipped the coffee. "I know a lot of things. Are you frustrated because she won't give you any of her blood?"

I didn't say anything, knowing that he would start talking anyway.

"The incident several years ago concerning her parents and attempting to kill Asato wasn't the first in her family," he sighed. "Once before, a few generations ago, they tried to overthrow the council. To punish the Haotomi family, the council laid an ancient and powerful curse on them. It tainted their blood and from then on it has been flowing through the veins of every member of the family, including our dear Kanji."

A curse? What? Why hadn't I heard of it before from my parents or Yagari? One would think that something like that would be common knowledge.

"Ever since the attempted uprising, the council has kept the information from spreading by neglecting to add it to any of their documents. Of course, in more recent times, after they tried to kill Asato, their family was wiped out of any and all credentials that might concern them."

I couldn't say anything. Why hadn't she told me? I had counted her as my best friend during that week we spent camping near their mansion. She must have told me everything about her family—except for that one bit.

"But how do you know all this?" I asked.

"I once stumbled across a file among the Hunter's Association that mentioned it. Shortly after reading it, however, it burst into flame, as expected. Then, when Kanji's loyal butler Chuunaru contacted me about her coming here, he told me about her…condition, to say the least."

I gritted my teeth. Of _course_ the headmaster knew. He knew everything. "What does the curse _do_?"

He shrugged. "That was the one bit I couldn't figure out. It doesn't seem like it affects her in any way, which would then lead me to say that if you drink it, the chances of your life ending in the near future increase by quite a bit. So don't drink it, no matter how tempted you are. Stay above the influence, Zero!"

I stared at him. "You've been watching too much TV again, haven't you?"

Kanji

It was during class that I smelled blood and looked around. It was human blood. There wasn't much of it spilled, but it was enough to make me crave some. I had been living off disgusting blood tablets ever since I came to Cross Academy. They just weren't as satisfying as real blood would be.

I noticed everyone else sit up and sniff the air as well. Aido looked like he was almost ready to run after the scent when Kaname shot him a warning glance.

"Just ignore it," he said calmly. "It's probably just a few Day Class members that hurt themselves."

"It's still blood," Aido pointed out.

"Ignore it."

"How can you just live off blood tablets all the time like this?" I grumbled, not really caring about getting a response.

"Just set your mind to it and think about living in harmony with humans," Kaname said. "The only reason any of us is here is because we can live peacefully alongside them." He shot Aido an angry look.

"I still don't get it," I muttered.

"You don't have to, as long as you don't drink anyone's blood, unlike _someone_ I know." He continued glaring at Aido.

"The blood tablets have worked magnificently," the teacher said from his place at the desk in the front of the dark room. "Their introduction to the vampire world has gone over famously and violence among aristocratic-level vampires has decreased immensely. While some do argue that they do not work, others say that their success is amazing. It has made Cross Academy even more well-known."

I sighed. I knew that the others thought they were perfect. But being a member of the purest family in the vampire world made me crave fresh blood instead of mere tablets. I knew that Kaname was the same way; it was easy to tell. I was also completely certain that they wouldn't sustain Zero either. So really the tablets weren't working out that great within our little community here.

After classes were finished with and we had returned to the Moon Dorm for the day, I was once again forced to talk to Kaname for Ichijo.

"Why can't you just talk to him yourself?" I asked.

"I think he's still mad at me for something from last week," he said, smiling awkwardly. "So please? Just tell him about this business offer for me?"

"I thought that as Vice President you were supposed to take care of all the business stuff," I mumbled.

"Yes, but I can't approve anything without his permission, and I know he'll say no to me. But if _you _talk to him, then--"

"Fine, I'll do it. But you owe me." I walked up the stairs and down the hall to Kaname's room and knocked on the door. "I'm going to regret this…."

"Come in, Kanji."

I yanked the door open and entered the dark room to find him sitting by the window, staring out at the sky. It was almost too classic a moment to bear.

"Ichijo sent me to talk to--"

"Why do you want to keep your blood status a secret?" he asked, cutting me off.

"I told you," I said, crossing my arms. "I don't want the others to know."

"Well, obviously Kain already knows, so why bother?"

"Because he's the only one that's figured it out so far!" wasn't it obvious?

He sighed. "Fine then. Go to the kitchens and fetch me a sandwich."

What? "What are you talking about?"

He turned to look at me. "The deal was that I'll keep your secret if you don't act like you're my superior. So run along over to the kitchens in the school building in part of the headmaster's quarters and make me a sandwich. Preferably soon, before the sun comes up."

He wanted me to go all that way to make him a _sandwich_? "You don't even _like _bread! How are you going to eat it if you hate bread?"

He shrugged. "Be creative. Soak it in blood or something."

"Where am I going to get that much blood?"

"Well, you could--"

"And I'm not going to use my own!" I snapped.

"Alright then, you can just brink me a sandwich with raw, bloody meat inside. That would soak the bread in blood."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "What kind of meat would you prefer, O Great One?"

"Oh, I like that title. And I don't have a meat preference; I hardly eat solids. I have no idea as to which is best. Just pick for me." he smiled. "So be quick about it."

"Stupid stuck-up pureblood," I muttered under my breath as I walked out the door.

"So what did he say?" Ichijo asked eagerly as I walked past him on my way out the dorm doors.

"He said that he wants me to get him a sandwich from the kitchens in the school building," I said. "If I'm not back in an hour, tell him that I think he's an idiot."

He just watched me leave without saying anything else. Why was I putting up with this crap? It was so stupid.

I broke into a run and realized that I had the techno version of "Crazy Train" stuck in my head. Great.

"Idiot Kaname," I muttered to myself. "Who does he think he is? A sandwich? Really?"

It was so stupid. What did he want to eat a sandwich for? Out of curiosity? Couldn't he eat sandwiches on his own time instead of making me go get them for him? Seriously. I had to run all the way to the school without Yuki catching me out after hours like this. It was just plain stupid.

When I did finally reach the school building, I could tell that I didn't have very long until the sun came up. I was going to have to hurry if I was planning on making it back inside before I was practically blinded by the light.

"What are you doing here?"

I turned and saw Zero standing behind me. "Oh…uh…hi. What's up?"

"Not much. What about you? Shouldn't you be sleeping by now?" he asked.

"Yeah, about that…where exactly is the kitchen?"

He stared at me. "What? Why do you care about where the kitchen is?"

"Well, Kaname has this whole thing about making me act like his servant in order for him to keep my blood status a secret, so he sent me over here to get a sandwich for him."

He just sighed and walked past me. "This way. In the headmaster's quarters."

I followed him into the headmaster's office and through another door to the kitchen. Yuki was sitting there at the table and looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep in the past twenty four hours. Had she really been up all night? It seemed rather stupid if she had.

"Kanji-sama?" she asked as I walked in. "What are you doing here?"

"Kaname sent her to make him a sandwich." Zero said flatly. "If that doesn't sound stupid to you then I don't know what does."

"But…why?"

I gritted my teeth. "He's really full of it lately. Where's the raw meat?"

They glanced at each other.

"What kind?" Zero asked.

"I don't know, whatever's best!" I snapped.

"I'll make the sandwich!" Yuki said, jumping up. "He wants something really bloody, right? Of course he does! I'll make him a steak sandwich!"

I didn't pay attention to her as she continued babbling and instead collapsed onto the nearest chair. This was all so stupid.

"Need a massage?" Zero asked.

"Wha--"

He cut me off by putting his hands on my shoulders and massaging them. I didn't know he was that good at massages.

"Why do you let that leech order you around?" he asked.

"Because he knows my blood secret," I mumbled.

"But you're more powerful than he is. You can force him to keep it a secret, can't you?"

I shrugged. "Probably not. Now, if Suzuki came here, that would be a different story…."

"Who's Suzuki?" Yuki asked from where she was slicing raw meat at a counter.

"My insane older brother. The fact that he can tell when you're lying has eroded his brain away so that now he's just a psychotic know-it-all."

"She's exaggerating," Zero said.

"How would you know? You've never met him." I pointed out.

"You told me about him."

"That was years ago, he wasn't nearly as bad as he is now."

"Aha! It's finished!" Yuki shouted. She held a sandwich, dripping with blood, out to me. "Take that to Kaname-sama! I hope that he likes it!"

I sighed. I was going to have to carry this stupid sandwich all the way back to that idiot without getting attacked by anyone else in the Night Class because they can smell the blood.

"I'll walk you back to the Moon Dorm," Zero said, heading towards the door. "Come on."

I got up and followed him, holding the sandwich gingerly as if it was going to turn around and bite me.

"You know, I'm perfectly capable of walking back to the dorm myself," I said. It came out sounding a bit haughtier than I expected.

"What? You don't like my company?" he glanced at me.

"No, I didn't mean that! I just meant—because you probably haven't gotten any sleep lately…never mind."

He sighed. "I wanted to walk back with you so I could talk to you."

"About what?"

"The headmaster told me about your little issue with the curse."

Oh. That. Right…. "Yeah…what about it?"

"You never told me about it before. You chattered on for hours and hours about all the random little theories your father had about Level Es and whatnot but neglected to tell me about something as huge as a curse that's tainted your blood?" he snarled.

I stopped and looked up at him defiantly. "You want my blood? Is that it?"

He grumbled something inaudible and turned away from me.

"Zero," I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me again. "I wanted to save you. Don't think I didn't tell you because I just wanted you to go insane! But the risk is too high…if you drink my blood, there's no telling _what_ could happen to you…so I just didn't say anything with hopes that we could find an alternative."

"And alternative? Like what?"

"Well, if Shizuka Hio wasn't dead right now we would _have _an alternative, now wouldn't we?"

"It's not my fault that that leech killed her," he snapped. "If you want to talk about her then take it up with your new 'master'."

"You're being such an idiot!" I yelled. I grabbed his tie and pulled his head down so I could talk to him face-to-face. "Why are you acting like a jealous boyfriend?!"

There was a moment of silence as we stared at each other. I could tell he was trying to come up with something to say but couldn't and so he just kept his mouth shut. Smart guy.

Realization swept over me and I let go of his tie. That explained _everything. _I mean, I had thought that he was a slightly jealous-type, like before with Aido, but I didn't really know…that…wow.

"Kanji," I turned to see Kaname standing there casually. "Did you get the sandwich?"

I growled. "Yes. Here it is, Great Exalted One. One sandwich, made by Yuki Cross herself. Enjoy."

I held the bloody sandwich out to him and he took it and smirked. "Thank you. I'll walk her back to the Moon Dorm if you don't mind, Kiryu."

Zero just nodded and started walking away. Poor Zero. After that little…'argument'…he must have been destroyed to have Kaname just walk up like that. I sighed. Why did all these stupid things end up happening to me?

"Zero," I called.

He stopped and looked at me over his shoulder.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." Was all he said before continuing on.

I turned back to Kaname to see him sniffing the sandwich. "What _is _this? This meat?"

"Beef. From cows." I said. "Or is it not good enough for you?"

"No, it's fine. I don't know if I've ever eaten beef…is it good?"

"I don't know and don't care."

He smiled slightly and sank his teeth into it, slurping the blood up. I just stood there with my hands on my hips, watching him like he was the biggest idiot in the world. This was true, considering what I had gone through to get him a stupid sandwich.

"This is strangely satisfying," he said as he started walking back to the dorm. "Tell me, why do humans normally cook meat?"

I shrugged and followed. "They don't like blood. And cooking it gets rid of a lot of bacteria. For some reason they care about that kind of stuff."

As he finished the sandwich and licked the last few drops of blood from the corners of his mouth, he looked at me.

"You know, Ichijo came and told me that I was an idiot."

"Oh, did he really? I told him to wait an hour before telling you."

He smiled again. "Do you find amusement in insulting other people?"

"But of course. Having an older brother like Suzuki has taught me a few things. You should try it sometime."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe having an attitude like that is frowned upon in vampire society?" he asked.

"I haven't been a part of _any_ society for years."

He laughed lightly. "I know. Now come on and hurry up; it's almost dawn."


	6. Chapter 5

_**A/N Okay...so I basically wrote this chapter in two hours or so because I was over-happy about my computer now being free of viruses. My good friend , who is behind most of the ideas for this story (she comes up with the plot and i write it, fill in details, and make magic happen) claims that I have now turned her into a fangirl...but anyways, I hope everyone likes this chapter and I'll try to post the next one soon! And as always, please write reviews. It makes me feel more like updating because I know that people are waiting for more.**_

Five

"So Kanji, are you sure you want to stay here for the holidays?" Ruka asked.

It was the last night before we went on vacation and everyone had been bugging me about going with them to Aido's mansion. Over the past hour, Kaname, Kain, Seiren and Rima (together, at the same time and place), and Aido had come to talk me into accompanying everyone.

But every time they tried to win me over, I declined, saying that I had to figure things out before I could go with them and just act like my life hadn't just changed drastically in the past week or so.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I said, trying to look cheerful.

"You'll be stuck here with Kiryu," she wrinkled her nose. "And you're okay with that?"

"I'm his friend, Ruka." I reminded her. "And no, I won't kill him for you."

She looked somewhat disappointed after that statement. "But you do realize that he--"

"Yes, he threatens Kaname-sama on a regular basis, I know." I interrupted. She had been taking every opportunity she got to try to sever my friendship with Zero. I didn't really understand what her problem was, other than the fact that she absolutely adored Kaname, an issue that was going to need resolving sooner or later for various reasons.

And besides, I needed to spend some more time with Zero. I had to find another way to keep him from going insane. He couldn't drink my blood, obviously. What about all those things my father had talked about? He thought that there were several ways to preserve a Level D's sanity. No one had ever listened to him because they thought that he was just insane. Which could have very well just been the case.

I also needed to apologize for yelling at him like that. I wasn't going to be able to stop fretting about it until I saw that he wasn't angry with me.

"I still don't understand how you can be friends with him. He's so—just so—ugh!"

I tried not to laugh. Her hatred was really quite amusing. "Yeah, okay. Sure. You have a good time at the mansion with everyone else."

She sighed. "You still have a few hours to decide to come with us--"

"I'm not changing my mind. I'll stay here."

She threw up her hands. "Fine then! I give up! Just stay here if you want to, what do I care if he kills you because he hates us all?"

"That's the spirit," Kain said from the other side of the room where he was sitting on the couch listening to our conversation.

"He won't kill me," I smiled.

"What makes you think so?" Ruka asked.

"Because I've known him for years. He's one of my best friends." I smiled wider. "Like I said, he's not that bad once you get to know him…."

"I'm not going to believe you about that. Ever. If he had his way, we'd all be dead."

"Well, probably not _all _of us…."

She wrinkled her nose. "Whatever. I guess you're just hopeless. I'll let you spend your vacation here. Hope you don't die."

And with that encouraging note she strode away.

"What did you do to Ruka?" Ichijo asked as he walked up to me carrying a few suitcases.

"I have no idea," I said, staring after her. I turned to look at him. "Hey, do you want help?"

"That would be appreciated," he smiled awkwardly and I took a suitcase from him. "So you're not coming with us?"

"Nope."

"You're just staying here?"

"Yep."

"And you don't think Kiryu is going to kill you?"

"He won't."

"You sure about that?"

"Positive."

"Well, this conversation is going far," he grumbled as we exited the building and I threw the suitcase into the trunk of one of the sleek black cars that was there to pick them up.

"Isn't it though?" I asked.

He sighed. "I guess I can't force you to come with us, so…just don't die."

"I've been getting a lot of that lately."

I helped each of them with getting their bags and suitcases in the cars and saw them off. I wasn't really all that sorry to see them go; the fact that they were going to come back sooner or later was enough for me. And besides, it would be nice to get away from Aido for a while. And Kaname couldn't order me around and force me to get sandwiches for him.

Of course, Yuki and Zero showed up just before they all left. It was quite obvious that Zero didn't want to be there and Yuki had forced him to accompany her to the Moon Dorm.

"G-goodbye, Kaname-sempai!" she called, waving desperately.

He just nodded, smiled, and waved back.

"Yuki, settle down." Zero grumbled. "It's not like he's going off to die. He'll be back soon enough."

"Zero, how could you say something like that?" she asked as the cars drove away. "He's a wonderful person!"  
"Leech-lover," he muttered.

"O-kay, before anyone kills anyone, I suggest you help me move out of the Moon Dorm!" I said, shoving Zero towards the doors.

Since I only had one bag of stuff, it really wasn't that hard to move into the Sun Dorm to stay with Yuki. My main issue with the place was the horrible reek of human. It was utterly disgusting.

"Come on," she said happily, walking towards the door. "We'll go down for dinner. Hopefully you can get some real blood for once."

As we went down to the Headmaster's quarters, I was painfully reminded of the fact that I was indeed a pureblood and couldn't function well on simple blood tablets. I was so full of anticipation at the thought of getting some fresh blood after so long without it that I almost felt like attacking Yuki.

But I didn't. I kept my head and was silent as we walked. It would just be harder for everyone if she was killed.

We stopped at the door and she knocked politely. After a few moments it was opened by Zero and we walked in.

"Ah, so glad to see you here!" the Headmaster said from his place at the table. "I trust everything went fine?"

"Yes Headmaster," Yuki bowed quickly and sat down.

"The Night Class left safely," I took the chair across from Zero and stared hungrily at the elegant wine glass in front of me.

"Oh, you'd be wanting this then." The Headmaster pulled a bottle of red liquid out from who knows where. I watched the blood slosh around inside as he pulled the cork out and poured it into the glass.

I picked it up and drank it casually, letting the sweet liquid run down my throat. It was amazing how much nicer it was than stupid old blood tablets.

The Headmaster cleared his throat as Yuki got up to get food for them. "So…how have you been lately, Kanji?"

"Uh…I'm fine," I said.

"And how's Kaname?"

"I dunno…I assume he's also fine. Why do you ask?" I asked nervously.

He simply smiled and Zero sighed in annoyance as Yuki set plates of food down on the table and resumed her spot.

"So when's the wedding?"

I basically exploded in a coughing fit as I inhaled a bit of blood. How had he known? Did he know _everything_? I wanted to keep it a secret until it was impossible for me to continue hiding it. But now he had ruined everything and exposed it to the outside world.

"_WHAT?!" _Zero snarled, standing up and glaring at me. "You—_what?_"

"Wedding?" Yuki asked dejectedly. "He never told me…."

I glanced back and forth at them. Zero looked like he was ready to kill me and Yuki was just about in tears.

"Really? Hm…." The Headmaster said. "He must have wanted to keep it a secret."

"Yeah, makes sense." I said angrily.

Zero turned his back to me and crossed his arms. "Just another secret you kept from me."

"Zero, it's not my fault!" I growled. "It was an arranged marriage and I had no say in the matter. You think it's easy finding a suitable pureblood bachelor? Think about it from my parents' point of view! Our families had known each other, Kaname and I grew up together…they found it perfect."

"So? You still could have told me!"

"And I would have had it not been for the fact that we would be having this exact same conversation!"

"Not if I had known from the start!"

"Yeah? Because you _totally _knew Kaname Kuran back then! And besides, it would just make you hate me."

"And who's to say I _don't_ hate you?" he snarled.

I didn't have anything to say. He didn't hate me, did he? No. He couldn't. But after discovering the curse…did he?

"Zero," I stood up and walked to his side. "Don't be mad at me. If there was any way I could get out of it, trust me, I'd find it and escape. But there _isn't _a way out. My parents blocked every possible loophole."

He looked at me over his shoulder and glared. "Traitor."

"What? How am _I _a _traitor_?" I asked. My hair color changed to flaming red as anger bubbled up inside of me. He was such a thickheaded, mouse-brained, vampire-killing-oriented idiot! Why didn't he understand the point I was trying to get across?

"You are and you know it."

"Yeah? What about you? You're such a hypocrite!"

"And now, Yuki, is when we run out the door in a panic as we try to avoid getting caught up in the middle of two vampires fighting," the Headmaster said as he and Yuki flew out of the room.

"A hypocrite? You think I _wanted _to become a blood-sucking parasite?!" he yelled, spinning around to face me.

"So you see my point!" I yelled back.

"Of course I don't. I have no idea how you could be planning on going through a marriage with that—that—leech!"

"Don't call him a leech!"

"That's what he is. Just a small, insignificant parasitic creature that feeds off of others to survive!"

"Well then so are you!"

"And so are you!"

I slammed my fist on the table and it cracked in half. So I was a leech to him now, was I?

"Don't ever insult me like that," I growled, looking at the ground.

I hardly ever use my power of illusion. I just don't ever have the need to trick people. But Zero was making me _so mad_ it would be impossible for me _not _to torture him with it.

I felt the scene around us changing to only darkness as the illusion came into effect. Darkness that expanded out for who knows how long. Just simple, terrifying, blank nothingness.

"I can be your best friend or your worst enemy, Zero." I said coldly. "And you decide which I become."

His mouth twitched into a snarl. "I'm only going to feel guilty about this later…."

The ground beneath us changed to rock covered in a thin layer of snow. Wind whipped around from an unknown source, carrying more snow with it. In the darkness, grey trees began to take form and I suddenly realized that I was creating the forest where we first met.

Zero stumbled back a step or two. "What are you doing?"

"I can't rightly tell," I said. "But something's telling me that I should torture you in some way."

Headmaster Cross

What was she doing to him? I couldn't hear anything through the door. There should have been sounds indicating fighting by now, but it was all silent.

"H-Headmaster," Yuki said from behind me. "They're not going to kill each other, are they?"

"No. Of course not." I smiled and tried to act reassuring. To tell the truth, I had no idea if they were going to kill each other. With vampires it was always hard to tell.

"Should we maybe…try to stop them before they hurt each other?"

"Perhaps…but it would probably be best if we waited. I would really hate to get caught up in a fight between those two."

She sighed. "And here I thought that they were great friends…."

"Of course they are," I said. "The thing that makes them such great friends is that tomorrow night, once they've both had time to cool down, he'll apologize and she'll understand and things will be back to normal."

She nodded and bit her lip. "A—are Kaname-sama and Kanji really going to get married?"

I didn't know what to say. She seemed so dejected by the inevitable fact that they were indeed engaged that I feared if I went in depth about it she would just get even more upset.

"They are, indeed, intended to be married. Pureblood families always look for ways to ensure that their bloodline will be carried on in an appropriate manner. And as we all know, the Kurans have always been just below the Haotomis in the social hierarchy."

She nodded again and didn't say anything.

I sighed. "I suppose we should go see how much damage has been done to that table…."

I was afraid to find the room covered in blood when I started slowly opening the door. But instead, I saw them standing there, glaring at each other silently.

"K-Kanji?" Yuki asked.

She turned to look at us with bright red eyes. "Oh, don't mind me, I was just leaving."

She shoved past me and retreated back to the dorm while Zero walked out with his head down, obviously going back to his own dorm.

"And you're sure they're going to be able to stay friends?" Yuki asked skeptically.

"Well, that's what I was hoping for," I said as I watched Zero slam the door after himself.


	7. Chapter 6

**_A/N Wow...it's been a while since I published anything, hasn't it? *sweatdrop* My only real excuse for that is that we've been busy. Extremely busy. Busy as in flying across the country for a wedding, having the flight back delayed at least 16 hours, then finally getting back and being swamped with work. So if you were wondering, that's why this lovely story here hasn't been updated in at least two weeks. But we're all finally here now and we'll be planning a lot more over the next few days so that future chapters can come out soon. So yeah, once again I'm sorry for the huge delay but we had good reason and now the long awaited chater six is finally with us. Enjoy!_**

Six

Gah! Zero was just such an _idiot _sometimes! I mean, he acted like it was _my _fault that I was _forced_ into an arranged marriage like that! And it's not like it mattered anyway, because we couldn't break the marriage contract, what with both mine and Kaname's parents being dead and all. I had been forced into a corner that I couldn't get out of.

And the fool overreacted _so _much about _everything._ He thought that _his _life sucked so much? I had just lost my parents for an unknown reason and started attending a strange school where I was surrounded by screaming fan girls that threatened to kill me every time I went to attend classes with the others.

I hissed under my breath and put my head in my hands, sinking down onto my bed. At least I was alone now.

"K-Kanji?"

Never mind.

Yuki cracked the door open and inched her way into the room. I turned away from her and looked out the window at the moon instead, watching the snow fall in front of it.

"Kanji, you shouldn't be so mad at him you know," she said kindly.

"Yeah? Why don't _you _try being in my position?" I snarled unexpectedly. I sighed almost immediately. I hadn't meant for it to come out that way.

She looked at her feet. "I—well…I just don't want you to be mad at him is all!"

"But he's such an idiot!" I yelled, burying my face in my hands once again. "I can't stand it! He thinks that just because I chose not to tell him a few things I'm a _traitor? _I'd like to see him being forced into an arranged marriage!"

"He can't stay mad at you though," she said quietly. "He cares about you too much. He'll start feeling horrible about yelling at you and he'll want to come back to you, but if you don't forgive him all he's going to do is mope and eventually commit suicide."

I looked up at her. "He actually cares that much?"

She nodded silently.

I pondered this. If what she said was true, then maybe he wasn't such an idiot. He was just a stupid guy that didn't know what to do.

Yeah, that sounded like Zero.

"So what should I do?" I asked.

"Just wait. Don't say anything. Just give him a bit of time and he'll eventually come to his senses and ask to meet you somewhere outside and then--"

The peppy sparkle had returned to her eyes.

"Okay, I get it." I interrupted.

She clasped her hands together excitedly. "I think you'll make a beautiful couple."

Insert heavy sigh here. "I have homework to attend to, so if you don't mind…."

"Oh, okay. Right. I get it. Don't worry, I've got your back!" she ran out the door and I was finally left alone like I had wanted in the first place.

Instead of actually doing any of the homework that I did actually have to do, I stretched out on my back and stared at the ceiling. How long was it going to take Zero to come to his senses? I was already full of remorse about the fight. But it wasn't my fault that he was too thickheaded to understand that I had been forced into the engagement.

I sighed and shook my head. Men.

Zero

DAMN THAT LEECH KURAN. I kicked the nightstand next to me. That bastard. The fact that he was involved with my life in _general_ was bad enough, but now there was _this_? I growled and sat on my bed.

And now Kanji was mad at me. She was the one person that meant the world to me and now she was engaged to _him _and probably furious with me. But what was I supposed to do, just ignore the fact that she was going to marry him? There was no way I could let that happen.

I reviewed my options. I could kill Kaname Kuran…but despite the fact that it would probably be the quickest way to solve my problem, there would be a string of others behind it that I would have to deal with, such as a furious Kanji, a manically depressed Yuki, and the entire vampire community coming after me. So forget that idea; overall it would make my life harder.

I could kill myself. But then I'd never be able to see Kanji again, and she was the entire reason I was going over my options. Not to mention that if I was dead and out of the way, Kuran would win. And I couldn't let him win. I wouldn't. No, suicide would just be stupid at a time like this.

I shook my head. I was being stupid. I wouldn't need to kill _anyone_ so long as Kanji forgave me. Which meant that I was going to have to go and apologize first, before she came to me.

I stood and ran a hand through my hair. How was I supposed to do this? She was probably still mad at me. God, I was such an idiot. Why did I have to get so angry at her? I should have controlled myself better.

But she had kept that from me all this time…no. I couldn't think about the fact that she had basically betrayed me. I could mope about that after I was certain that she wasn't going to leave me.

I walked to the door and opened it only to find the Headmaster standing there, his arm extended as if to open it himself.

I glared at him.

"Wonderful to see you too," he said.

I shoved past him and he followed me down the hall. Why wouldn't he just leave me alone?

"I was just coming to make sure you hadn't committed suicide or anything rash like that, but it seems that you have things under control, so I'll just be leaving. Oh, and if you're looking to have Yuki deliver a message to anyone, she's in the kitchen."

And with that, he disappeared once more. I shook my head and sighed. Could he read minds or something? Nonetheless, having Yuki convey a message to Kanji for me sounded good right about now. If she was in the mood for attacking anyone, she wouldn't kill me and I might at least be able to apologize to her while she went after the messenger instead.

I stopped in the kitchen doorway and saw Yuki washing dishes at the sink.

"Yuki," she looked up at the sound of her name. "I need you to tell Kanji something for me."

Kanji

I was moping on my bed when someone knocked on my door and stuck their head inside the room. It was, of course, none other than Yuki once more.

"What?" I asked.

"Zero told me to tell you that he wants to meet you outside," she grinned stupidly.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. "That was fast."

"Just come on," she grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. "Go talk to him!"

I sighed. "Do I _have_ to?"

"If you ever want things to be better, then yes, you have to. Go on!" she pushed me toward the door and I walked slowly down the hall on my own.

It wasn't that I didn't want to be able to talk to Zero again without getting in a huge fight. I wanted things to go back to normal, but that was impossible. Now that he knew about Kaname…it wouldn't ever be the same.

But I wanted to be able to talk to Zero in an at least semi-normal way, meaning not yelling at him for accusing me of being a traitorous leech. And the only way I was going to get this result was if I went and either let him apologize or did the apologizing myself.

So off I went, into the night, following Zero's scent until it brought me to a wooden swing set sitting between two cherry trees. He was leaning against it, looking at the ground. I approached and stopped several feet in front of him, arms crossed, looking at him expectantly.

He looked up at me silently.

"Nice to see you too," I grumbled, turning away.

He growled. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?" he sighed. "I guess I was a real jerk before."

I turned back to him. "You _guess_? Saying it that way is like saying the sky is blue. Of _course _it's going to be true!"

He looked quite unsettled at this point. "I—look. I know I was stupid. I've had more time to think about it and I realize that I overreacted."

"_Overreacted? _You think it's a matter of overreaction?" I yelled, anger rising up in my chest again. "You called me a parasite and a traitor! And you're so full of it sometimes, you know that? You act like your life is just _so _horrible all the time! Oh, look at me, I'm Zero Kiryu and I'm an orphan vampire, I think I'll go kill myself! I'm still trying to get over the fact that my only family left is my brother who's currently wandering heaven knows where while attempting to keep my blood status a secret from the others in the Night Class while dealing with my curse while trying to find a way to keep you sane while desperately searching for a loophole in the marriage contract because I _really _don't want to go through with it. So don't let me ever catch you whining about your life again."

He gritted his teeth and looked like he was going to say something for a moment before he let out an exasperated breath and looked at the snow-covered ground.

"I'm sorry, alright? I was stupid. A jerk. An idiot. And a number of other things you could call me that I won't say. So can we just…forget this?" he looked at me desperately. When I didn't reply, he added "please?"

Now, that was weird. Zero Kiryu saying please? It was unheard of. It wasn't even meant to be.

So what else could I do but accept his apology?

"Okay, okay. Fine. You'll get away with that apology this time." I smiled and he sighed in what sounded like relief and pulled me into an unexpected hug, burying his face in my hair.

When I was finally released from the embrace, I walked around him to the swings and sat on one while Zero pushed it from behind me.

"So, other than the fact that Kaname is your bitter enemy, why did you get so mad when you found out we were set up to be married?" I asked. I knew the answer; I just wanted to hear it from his lips.

"I got jealous."

"And _why _did you get jealous?" my lip quirked in a smile.

"Because I really like you."

"Yes, but _why_ do you really like me?"

He stopped the swing and leaned over me so that I could see his face. "There's a lot of reasons."

"Name a few."

"You're funny, smart, beautiful, your hair color changes at least once a day, you're not afraid of the Night Class--"

"I'm _in _the Night Class," I interrupted.

"—which is why you're not afraid of them. Is that list long enough for you? Because it could go on longer."

"Nah, I think it's good enough. So…now what? Do we just keep talking or something? And if so, what do we talk about?"

"I dunno." That was his great answer.

I stood and scooped up a handful of snow. Before I could throw it at him, I was hit square in the face by an icy snowball. Shaking it out of my hair, I glared at him and smiled. Within minutes it turned into an all-out war and by the time dawn finally came we were both exhausted.

When I retreated to my bed and hid under the heavy covers from the sun, I remembered once again that despite the fact that now Zero and I were on speaking terms again, I still had a list of things in my life that I needed to fix.


	8. Chapter 7

**_A/N Once again, sorry for not updating in a while...I was suffering from writer's block for a while there and I just finally got a few ideas into my head. Also, i just thought i'd say that we're both completely aware of the fact that 'Kanji' really isn't a name. We knew it from the start. just liked it despite the fact that i was a bit skeptical and eventually we agreed on it because we both thought that it fit her character. So with that out of the way, just enjoy the chapter and review. It makes my day a lot less boring when i get to read interesting reviews from readers._**

Seven

Yuki

I sighed and started scrubbing vigorously at the bowl. Doing the dishes was just one of my many ways to avoid other people when I wasn't in the mood for talking. There were just too many problems to think about right now.

It seemed like Zero and Kanji were on speaking terms again; Kanji was busy sleeping all day and Zero was in a rather happy mood (for him). Neither had been even the least bit angry-looking when they returned from their meeting outside last night, which I took as an extremely good sign and possibly an omen of excellent fortune.

Then there was the whole thing about Kaname-sama and Kanji. I suppose I'd have to get a dress for their wedding, whenever that was going to be. It couldn't be long until they were joined in holy matrimony, could it?

And then it hit me.

Kaname-sama was getting married.

Kaname.

Was.

Getting.

Married.

To someone else. To a proper pureblood vampire from an elite family.

This was probably the right time for me to start panicking.

How could something like this happen right in front of me?! Kaname Kuran, the boy who had saved me from the vampire on that snowy day ten years ago, the same boy who referred to me as "his dear girl", was engaged to Kanji Haotomi? How was this even possible?

"There has to be a way out," I said desperately to myself. "There's a way! I still have to figure it out, but there's a way!"

"To do what?" I jumped and saw the Headmaster standing in the doorway.

"N-nothing, Headmaster." I tried to smile and seem cheerful.

"If you're worried about the engagement, I'm sorry that I brought it up, but it simply had to be done before things progressed any further." He shrugged indifferently. "And besides, there's no way to break the contract. Within vampire society, pureblood marriages are extremely sought after. Since purebloods are rather rare, they usually marry within the family, but in Kanji's case…well, she only has her brother, and I somehow can't see her marrying Suzuki."

His words weren't the least bit comforting.

"So, basically what I'm trying to say is that you should let it go. There's no way anyone can keep it from happening."

"Headmaster," I said, "somehow I don't think--"

"Please, call me 'Father'," he smiled.

"I'm sorry. Father, I just don't think that Kanji and Kaname-sama are…meant for each other." I said, desperate to find a reason for us to find a way to break the engagement. If the only way to do that was claiming that they didn't love each other, I had no objection.

"Really? What makes you say that?"

"I just…I don't know."

"Yuki," he said kindly, "don't try to keep them from getting married. Yes, it doesn't seem like it's on Kanji's list of enjoyable things to do, but it's her duty as one of the two remaining Haotomis to carry on the bloodline."

The thought of Kanji and Kaname having a child almost made me throw up.

I turned back to washing the dishes and tried to calm myself back down. Just because Kaname was going to marry Kanji didn't mean that it was the end of the world. BUT OH MY GOD, KANAME WAS GETTING MARRIED. I was going to die right where I stood. How was I supposed to face him again, now that I knew his secret?

"Reality hurts, doesn't it?" the Headmaster asked.

I just swallowed hard and nodded. The universe was out to get me. That was the only answer to my problems. Fate just wasn't on my side and the universe was out to get me.

But hey, this couldn't be all bad, right? This wasn't necessarily a negative thing. Maybe they actually _were _meant for each other. Maybe it was a good thing that they were supposed to be getting married. But still…Kanji didn't seem very enthusiastic about it. She seemed more like she was dreading it above all else.

I felt a twang of pity for her. It wasn't really Kanji's fault, after all. I mean, she didn't have a say in it. It was her parents' fault.

"But isn't it wonderful? Our little Kanji is getting married!" the Headmaster twirled around and clasped his hands together.

"She hasn't even been with us for a month and suddenly you're acting like she's part of the family?" I asked.

"Why, of course she is! Although, I imagine the wedding won't be for a while….Ah, hello there, Zero. What fine timing you have!"

Zero just grunted in reply and leaned against the wall.

"Why is everyone gathering in the kitchen to watch me wash the dishes?" I asked.

"Kanji's still sleeping." Zero said.

"Fine then, if you don't want me here, I'll leave." The Headmaster was out the door and in his office before I could say anything.

I turned to Zero. "Why are you here?"

He just shook his head and turned to leave.

"Wait! Zero!" I dropped the plate I was washing in the sink and ran after him only to discover that he had disappeared down the hallway.

I just sighed. He was probably just as panicky about the whole marriage thing as I was, the only real difference with our reactions being that Zero never talked about his problems or showed any emotion when he was worried. With anyone. At any point in time. It just wasn't something that he did.

Later that night, we all sat down and had dinner around the new table the Headmaster had bought. I had snuck a peek at the old one, which had been moved out to the dumpster behind the building. During the fight between Kanji and Zero, she had managed to crack it clean in half.

It was about time that table was replaced. It had gone through much more than just that in its time here at Cross Academy. Zero had made sure that it saw the same amount of abuse as a car in a demolition derby.

"And…where exactly did you get this?" Kanji asked, scraping at the brand new finish on it with her fingernails.

"Well, since it was about time that the last table was replaced, I ordered this from Ikea." The Headmaster said happily.

"There aren't any Ikeas around here," Zero said, crossing his arms. "Where did you really get it? It's not poisonous, is it?"

"Of course it isn't!"

"And you're sure it's not carnivorous?"

"Not as far as I know…."

"And it isn't animated at all?"

"I don't believe so. I told you, Zero, it's from Ikea! I ordered it online and it shipped straight from their warehouse."

I spooned some soup into my mouth and watched as they argued about it.

"How did it get here so fast?" Zero asked.

"I ordered express shipping, of course."

"And it got here overnight?"

"It's very possible, Kiryu. Just because _you _haven't tried ordering things from websites doesn't mean that the rest of the world can't." The Headmaster took a sip of tea.

"I didn't think you had a computer."

"I…er…well, I—I do, you just haven't…seen it yet."

Zero sighed. "You didn't steal one, did you?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

"No reason. I just find it hard to believe that you bought one."

"Well I didn't…I was using a friend's computer."

"Whose?" he raised an eyebrow. "You didn't actually go anywhere last night."

"Well that's because it's here," the Headmaster replied nervously. "You see, this very good friend of mine has a very nice and up-to-date computer so I borrowed it for a bit."

"Who is this friend of yours?" Zero asked.

Kanji glanced at me and I shrugged. I had no idea who the Headmaster would get a computer from. No one at the Academy was very tech-savvy, and although I hadn't exactly met very many of the Headmaster's friends, judging by his behaviors, I didn't think that they would be very into computers either.

"I—you don't know him," he continued. "He's never visited the Academy."

"Really? You have such a good friend that he'd let you 'borrow' his computer but he's never seen the school you run. Interesting."

"He's been traveling a lot," the Headmaster said quickly.

"Where has he been all this time?"

"Tahiti." He smiled awkwardly.

"Tahiti? That's…different. If he's been in Tahiti, then how did you get the computer?"

"Oh, well he has a house not far from here."

Zero glared at him. "You broke in, didn't you?"

"No I didn't. I let myself in and borrowed the computer without permission a while ago. He's been gone so he hasn't had the chance to notice."

"You broke into someone's house, stole their personal computer, and used it to order a table from Ikea? What, did you use their bank account too?"

The Headmaster stood up. "I think I'll go to my office now…."

We watched him go. No one stood up to stop him and no one said anything about it. After several more minutes, I collected the plates and dishes and put them in the sink, after which I retreated to my bed and fell onto it, almost immediately losing consciousness.

Kaname

I exhaled deeply and opened my eyes.

"What do you want, Aido?" I asked.

He crept into the room. "Just came to make sure everything was fine, Kaname-sama."

I smiled at him. "How very considerate. Thank you, Aido. I'm fine. Everything's perfect. But really, you don't have to be so formal. We're not at the academy."

"I-I know Kaname-sama."

"No, really. You don't have to call me that."

"Yes, Kaname-sama."

I sighed. "Aido?"

"Yes?"

"You may go now."

He bowed and left the room.

He wasn't the smartest person on the planet, was he? But then again, I do suppose that that's how he had always been trained; to only show the utmost respect for those of higher rank than he was. I couldn't blame him for only trying to do the right thing.

I sank down into the armchair by the window and looked out at the snowy sky. A cloud passed over the moon and for a moment everything was dark. Where was Kanji now? Probably off with Kiryu.

I growled to myself. Why was she always hanging around that pathetic excuse for a being? The only reason I hadn't eliminated him already was that doing so would undoubtedly put Kanji and Yuki in a deep, spiraling pit of depression that they could never be able to resurface from.

I only wanted Kanji to be happy. She was, after all, going to be my bride. I hadn't seen her in so long and now suddenly she just showed up out of nowhere…amazing yet strange. Why had the hunters killed her parents? As far as my research had led me, they had no reason for it. And why had Kanji been left alive? And all of the servants? Yagari had been sent on a special assassination; that was certain. But again, that question came up: _why? _Why kill only the parents and leave both children and all of their servants alive?

The hunters were supposed to have wiped out all of the information regarding the Haotomi family. Every single file containing even one word referring to them had been burned after the attempted assassination of Asato. The only way a file would have survived would be if they simply missed it while going through their archives or if someone had deliberately taken it and hidden it. And why would someone do that? _Who _would do that? The family had definitely been one of the most social in vampire society; they threw parties and had soirees for other aristocratic and pureblood families. They were the most highly respected people in the vampire world.

But then, they suddenly vanished. No one knew what had happened to them. Every time someone tried to ask the council, they would either not reply or they would pretend that they had no idea who the Haotomis were and were certain that they didn't exist. When people tried to find out more, they were punished harshly and after a few years the family was completely forgotten. Even I forgot about them. I didn't care enough to actually look into things, so I simply let it slip away from me.

And then Kanji enrolled in Cross Academy.

"Kaname-sama?" I turned to see Seiren standing in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Asato wants to speak with you. He's downstairs."

I sighed. "What does he want to speak with me about?"

"He didn't say."

"I thought this was supposed to be a vacation?" I said as I stood up and followed her down the stairs to where Asato was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace.

"Ah, Kaname," he stood and smiled as I sat across from him. "It's about time that you and I had a long talk."


	9. Chapter 8

**_A/N So...I finally updated! *silence* Anyways...I think it's kind of scary how long it took me to finally get off my butt and work on this chapter...and no, I don't actually know what Suzuki was dreaming about. You can comment on it and if anyone suggests anything exceptionally interesting, I might include that in the next chapter...and give whoever had the idea for it the credit that they deserve, of course. Don't worry, I'm not here to suck all the creativity from your heads! Just a little bit of it...because I have lack of ideas at the moment and is out sick, so we can't scheme together as well as we once could. So please, review! It brings some color into my otherwise dreary day. _**

Eight

Suzuki

Damn, I love game shows!

How I got into this, I will never know or fully understand; all I can say is that Truth or Dare for one hundred thousand dollars didn't seem so bad. Especially when you're me, Suzuki Haotomi, the best and brightest of the Haotomi line.

I had made it through most of the show without even as much as one wrong step. It was the final round. There were only three of us left and we all knew who was going to win. Well, actually, the others didn't exactly suspect that I was anything other than an amazingly good guesser. They had no idea that I wasn't human. But if they had, they would probably have ended up giving me the money anyway, even if it did mean that I would be chased by a dozen or two members of the Hunter's Society.

"Now, Contestant Number One," the host had resorted to calling us names such as this for both embarrassment and because I kept insisting to be called by a different name. If there was any chance at all that someone like Asato was watching this, I didn't exactly want to put a huge red target on myself.

The only woman left on the show stood up. "Yes?" she asked nervously, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Truth," the host paused dramatically, "or dare?"

She swallowed hard. She had discovered, like the rest of us, that the dares were extremely harsh and usually involved several things that had nothing in common all thrown together in a pit of mud. On the other hand, if you chose truth, you were in almost as much trouble. If it was decided that you were lying, the floor tile you were standing on opened up and you fell into a vat of slime under the stage.

"Truth," she said slowly.

"What is your worst fear?"

The question came as a surprise to me. It was relatively easy to admit compared to the others we had gone through.

"Being buried alive," she said with a slight shudder.

The host nodded. "Alright, alright. Contestants, what do you think about her answer?"

The deal with this game show was that if someone chose truth, the other contestants had to say whether they were lying or not. Of course, the host knew, because the host knew everything. If you guessed wrong, then you would sadly leave. If you lied after you chose truth and the floor opened up under you, after you were retrieved from the vat of slime, you would also leave.

I had yet to choose truth. It would be too risky if I did. So I completed the dares and came out without a scratch on me, leaving the humans in awe of my amazing skills. They were so clueless it was almost cute.

"I think she's telling the truth," Contestant Number Two said smugly, leaning back in his chair and stroking his chin for no apparent reason.

I didn't like him. Not only was he wrong and about to leave my presence forever, but he had that aura of absolute self-proclaimed superiority about him that made me want to retch.

Contestant Number One was most obviously lying. It was just so easy to tell that she wasn't being truthful that I almost doubted that Number Two had a brain at all. Yes, maybe her little thrown-in shudder was a nice touch, but she was absolutely naïve in the art of lying.

"And Contestant Number Three? What do you think?" the host asked, a little smirk playing on his face.

"I think," I said slowly to stretch out the tension a bit, "that she's lying."

Her eyes widened a bit and Number Two made a little groan that probably meant something along the lines of "that fool. Why don't they just make him quit and give the money to me?"

The host made a tutting sound and turned to Number One. "I'm sorry," he said in a completely un-apologetic way, "but he's right."

Cheers sounded from the live audience and I smiled.

"Yes. You actually suffer from asymmetriphobia," the host continued. "Fear of asymmetric things."

The audience roared with laughter. She blushed fiercely and looked at her feet, gritting her teeth. So _that _was why they chose to ask her what she was afraid of.

"And so, everyone, we have found a winner!" the host walked over to me and shook my hand.

The audience screamed with applause and I waved to them as I was handed the huge, unnecessary, just-for-show check. I smiled and continued waving, throwing dashing looks at the girls who screamed and jumped out of their seats if they hadn't already.

Did I actually _need_ one hundred thousand dollars? Not at all. Not in the least. After all, I _was_ a Haotomi. We had a huge family fortune locked up that had been growing over the past several generations. But come on, didn't everyone want the chance to grab at more money?

After collecting my prize money in cash (really, who would be able to mug me?) I vanished. I didn't really feel like dealing with anyone right now. It would just have been nicer if I was left alone.

I turned down an alley and put the hood of my sweatshirt over my head. I clutched the money in my pocket and smirked. It was all just a way to pass the time. Ever since Chuunaru had found me and taken me back to the mansion so I could pay my respects to my beloved parents, things had become extremely boring.

I leaned against the wall of a building and looked around, waiting for something to happen. I would stay there all night if I had to.

I sighed. This was stupid. I needed to be doing something exciting and worthwhile, something that would make me famous. Something that was at least a bit challenging, unlike the game show. I could travel with a circus. That could always work. Or I could become a movie star.

No, that would take too long. Insurance salesman? No. That wouldn't do. It would be far too tedious.

_What about doing something worthwhile? _A little voice in my head asked.

_Why bother? _I replied.

_You have a younger sister, you know. _

_Oh, right. _Her_. _

It seemed to sigh at me. _Why don't you go find her?_

_I'm sure she's having a perfectly boring time at school. Why interrupt?_

_But what if she's not okay? She's attending a school with humans and vampires alike. _

_Yeah, so?_

_I'm just saying._

What was this little voice trying to tell me? Was she in trouble? Were there Hunters? No. She could take care of herself. She had proved that several times. Why was I even worrying? Kanji was fine. She was old enough to tell right from wrong.

…Right?

_How can you be sure? _The voice asked.

_Do you have a name? _I tried to change the subject to something less nerve wracking.

_Don't get distracted, Suzuki. _It warned._ What if something's already happened to her?_

_Who are you, anyway?_

_I'm no one. Just a figment of your imagination brought on by lack of nutrition and family time. _

_O…kay, _I said. _Pleased to meet you, Fig._

Kanji

"What _are _you watching?" I asked, looking at the TV as Yuki handed me a bowl to dry.

"Oh, it's just this game show," she said. "A kind involving the game of Truth or Dare. The contestants have to choose truth or dare, and if they choose dare, they have to do something almost impossible. If they can't complete it, then they have to leave. If they choose truth, the host asks them a question and they answer it. Then the other contestants have to guess if they're lying or not. If you guess wrong, then you have to leave. If the person that was answering the question lies, they fall into a vat of slime and also have to leave."

It sounded like a waste of time.

"Great isn't it?" she asked.

"Sure," I mumbled. "Whatever you say."

"And this one guy's been doing really well," she continued. "You haven't seen him yet because you were talking with Zero for a while but he's answered right every time and completed every dare…."

"Very exciting," I lied, wiping the bowl with a towel and putting it in the cupboard with the others of its kind.

"I think so too," she said, oblivious to my lack of enthusiasm. "Oh, there he is!"

She stared intently at the TV screen and handed me a plate to dry.

"Kanji, you're not watching! Look!" she ordered.

I obeyed and looked at the screen as the camera zoomed in on the guy's face. It looked exactly like…but it couldn't be.

But it was.

"And Contestant Number Three? What do you think?" the host asked.

"I think," Contestant Number Three said, "that she's lying."

He smiled and I dropped the plate I was supposed to be taking care of. It shattered and Yuki yelped.

"Suzuki!" I yelled at the TV, my hands forming fists. "You idiot!"

"Who's an idiot?" the Headmaster asked, popping out of nowhere. "Oh my, that's Suzuki, isn't it?"

"Yes," I hissed and narrowed my eyes. Suddenly, I snapped to attention. "Let's go catch him."

I was already strolling out the door when Yuki called after me.

"But why?"

"He's going to get himself killed," I answered over my shoulder. "He's stupid like that."

"Perfect! We can take the company car!" the Headmaster ran past me.

"We have a car?" Yuki asked.

"Of course we do! You can't expect me to be the headmaster of a school and not have a car!"

"What about Zero?" she seemed rather concerned.

"He'll be fine on his own for a while!" I snapped. "He has a gun and he knows how to kill things and/or people with it. Don't worry about him."

She shrugged, sighed, and followed the headmaster outside.

He led us to the car, which really, in reality, I wouldn't have trusted him with, but since this _was_ a rather dire situation I couldn't see the point in complaining. It's not like I could be killed in a car crash either, so I had no actual reason to be concerned.

It was a simple, elegant, sleek, black car that looked like it should have belonged to the government. It was shiny too.

Yuki and I sat in the back and waited while the headmaster tried to remember how to start it. After a few failed attempts at making it go, he finally figured it out and we lurched forward.

"Sorry," he said.

"Right," I was starting to rip the leather seats due to my frightened grip.

We managed to make our way out to the road, stopping and lurching back into motion every few seconds. To be truthful, I was terrified. I really didn't trust the headmaster with this car.

I glanced over at Yuki only to find that she was looking out the window. How was she not panicking? It seemed like the Yuki-way called for something like that at a time like this. She wasn't exactly acting like herself.

"Yuki," I said.

"Huh?" she looked at me.

"Are you okay?"

"O-of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Are you worried about Zero?"

She smiled a bit nervously. "Not at all! Why would I be?"

"Of course you aren't." I looked back at the windshield just as we came to a screeching halt at an intersection and I flew forward.

"You should be wearing your seatbelt," Yuki scolded.

"What if I don't want to?" I snapped. What if we couldn't find Suzuki before he got himself killed? That's something he would just do on his own. I had already lost my parents; I didn't want to lose him too.

"Headmaster, can we hurry up?" I asked desperately.

"Don't be a backseat driver, Kanji!" he yelled as we rolled gently on past the intersection. "And do you really want us to get killed because we were speeding?"

"No, but--"

"Then be quiet and let me drive!"

I folded my arms against my chest and leaned back against the seat. If he thought he could drive, then fine. If we couldn't find Suzuki, then it was all his fault and I was blaming him. Possibly suing as well.

We drove slowly through the smaller town for about two hours before finally reaching the big city. The entire time, Yuki insisted that we play games to keep ourselves occupied. There was singing, which I despised; word games, which I hated; and those games where you count the number of cars of a certain color that passed by, which I absolutely loathed. I didn't have time to be playing stupid little games like this; I was trying to find my crazy brother, for god's sake!

Finally, when I thought my sanity was about to run for the hills during the fourth round of the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", the car came to a stop in a parking lot connected to an extremely foreboding alleyway.

I literally exploded out into the dark street, trying to search for Suzuki's scent. I sniffed the cold air like a bloodhound for several minutes before finding any traces of him.

"He was here!" I said excitedly.

"What?" Yuki asked. She was huddled next to the car with the headmaster, trying to keep warm.

I started walking down the street, following the scent. "Come on!"

She groaned. "Can we take the car?"

I didn't reply. Instead, I broke into a run, weaving through crowds out on the sidewalk waiting in line for clubs and doing their usual late-night shopping. They ignored me as I passed them; when they saw Yuki run by about three minutes later, huffing from the effort of keeping up with a vampire, they seemed to suspect that something was going on; and when the headmaster followed her at an even slower rate, wearing his new fur coat and scarf, they started whispering eagerly to each other.

"Excuse me," I said as I pushed through a crowd waiting on the street corner. All the while, despite the meddling scents of the human's messing up my nose, Suzuki's was becoming stronger and stronger. I was almost there, I knew it.

I stopped outside an alley and looked around. It smelled like he was right there next to me. I whipped around in circles. He wasn't, was he? No. I was sure of it. The air around me was definite air and did not contain any other vampires.

I peeked into the alley. It was dark. There weren't any creeps hanging around in it, were there?

I sniffed.

Nothing but Suzuki. He was probably sleeping.

I ventured into the alley just as Yuki caught up with me. She grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop.

"You can't go in there!" she panted.

"Why not?" I asked, turning back to the alley.

"How do you know what's in there?" she looked over my shoulder with fright written all over her face. "There could be murderers, or-or--"

"Yes, I know. But I'm a pureblood; we'll be fine." I pulled her with me into the darkness and she clutched my arm like a little kid.

"I can't see a thing," she whispered.

"That's okay." I said. Even I, with my superior night vision, was having a bit of a difficult time making out details in the darkness.

It seemed like we walked forever. The alley just went on and on; I never did find the end. We continued on our way through the grimy passage, trudging through puddles where the heat coming out of the pipes from the buildings had melted the snow and over trash, Suzuki's scent still growing stronger with every step.

Then, finally, I tripped over something soft. Yuki squeaked in surprise and I held my breath. Worst case scenarios flashed through my head. What if I had run into a hobo with a bad temper and a machine gun?

It groaned and clambered to its feet. Yuki let go of my arm and jumped into a martial arts stance. I bared my fangs and felt my eyes glow red.

"Why the hell are you waking me up at this hour?" Suzuki asked, rubbing his eye.

I stepped back. Was it really him? I hadn't seen him in so long! "Suzuki?"

"Yes, that's my name. Now why are you waking me up, Kanji?" he snapped. "I was having the loveliest dream about a--"

"Suzuki!" I hugged him. I hugged him hard.

"Eh…hi there," he said awkwardly, patting my head.

"Where have you been?" I asked harshly, letting him go to glare at him.

"Around," he shrugged. "I didn't think you cared enough to come after me."

"I don't." I turned and started walking out of the alley.

"Liar!" he yelled.

"Shut up!" I yelled back.

Yuki followed me, glancing back at him every few steps. He came slowly, at his own pace, and I was once again painfully reminded of exactly what my brother was like.


	10. Chapter 9

**_A/N Been forever hasn't it? We actually finished writing this at least two weeks ago. We just didn't get around to uploading it until now. So...sorry about that. But at least it's here, right? Better than nothing. Review please, as usual. Enjoy!_**

Nine

Suzuki climbed into the car after us and spent the entire ride chattering about utter nonsense. He had apparently enjoyed his time on the game show very much, not to mention that he was very fond of this city, that alley, the snow, a small pub that sat next to a flower shop, most human breakfast foods, AB positive, several music artists I had never heard of, Mozart, plaid patterns, blue colored pencils, the Hawaiian islands, and staple guns, which I would never be bold enough to let him near for fear of seeing a nuclear explosion soon after. You never know with Suzuki. Special things happen around him.

"You'll be staying at the academy?" Yuki asked politely.

_No, please no, _I thought.

"Of course, Yuki," the Headmaster said.

I hung my head. _Damn. _As much as I loved Suzuki, I really didn't want him around me that much. It was bad enough when we were younger, and now it seemed like he had actually gotten worse.

"I'd love to stay at the academy," Suzuki agreed. "And by the by, you wouldn't happen to want $100,000, would you? You know, the earnings from the game show. I don't really need/want it. Figure a headmaster would be able to find better uses for it."

"Why did you go on that game show again?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"You really don't know?"

"Nope."

"You were just somehow inclined to walk in and use your ridiculous powers to win a huge sum of money that someone else probably deserved more than you did?"

"Yup."

I shook my head and was quiet for the rest of the car ride. What an idiot. He was going to be the death of me one day. Wait, no. Scratch that. I was going to _murder _him one day. Death by strangulation was a horrible way for a pureblood vampire to go. It was almost as embarrassing as being killed by falling into a sewer filled with radioactive robotic ducks.

I heard about that happening to a friend of the family once; it was huge news all over the vampire community. My parents were talking it over when I just "happened" to walk through the room and overheard their entire conversation about the poor sap. It took a moment for the information to sink in, since I was so young at the time. It was back before we were banished, when we were still among high society. I was scared of sewers for a long, long time after that.

When we got back to the academy, I went straight to the room Yuki and I shared without a second glance at Zero when he appeared in the hallway. Exhausted, I flopped down on my bed and wormed my way down under the covers, determined to get as far away from the outside world as I possibly could for the next twelve hours or so.

Suzuki

"Hello, Lefty!"

"Hello, Righty!"

"And how are you today, Lefty?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Righty! How are you this fine evening?"

"Perfectly spectacular, old friend!"

Watching, and listening, to my hands have a conversation was amazingly compelling. They were controlling me, telling me what to say when. It was like they had taken over my brain.

"And what do you think of Cross Academy, Righty?" my left hand asked.

"It's wonderful, Lefty! Though the kitchen staff could be a bit more gracious." My right hand gasped. "Lefty! Your eyes are smearing off!" It grabbed a marker from the table and retraced Lefty's eyes.

"Thank you, Righty!" my left hand said. "I thought something was a bit off."

"Would you just _SHUT UP?!?" _the silver-haired boy snarled from across the room.

"I warned you," Kanji dried a plate and handed it to Yuki. "But you wouldn't listen to me. You thought I was joking when I told you that Suzuki is insane, you thought I was just over exaggerating. You thought I was being melodramatic, and you didn't give it a second thought. But now, now that you've agreed to let him have all the freedoms of a normal person, you're stuck with him."

I stared at her blandly. "Righty and Lefty don't appreciate that. I'm sorry, dear friends; please continue."

"As I was _saying,_" Lefty said. "Thank you for fixing my eyes, Righty."

"My pleasure, Lefty," Righty put the marker down. "But anyway, as for Cross Academy…this kitchen staff sure is aggravating."

"Exactly my thoughts," Lefty agreed. "We've only been here two nights and they've already thrown three plates at us."

"Imagine what would happen if we were in a room filled with knives!"  
"I don't think we'd survive, Righty!"

"That's it!" the silver haired boy growled, reaching for another plate.

"Zero, don't." Kanji warned. "It'll provoke him. Do you really want to deal with Lefty and Righty for the rest of the week?"

"No. I really don't."

"Maybe he'll get tired of it!" Yuki said cheerfully.

"I like that Yuki girl," Lefty decided.

"Yes, quite right. She's the only who hasn't tried to kill us!" Righty agreed.

"But that boy with silver hair…"

He put down the plate he was holding. "That's it. I'm leaving."

"There he goes!" Righty said as he walked out the door.

Kanji threw her hands up. "I give up. I really do. Suzuki, Lefty, Righty, you're going to either have to shut up or get out."

I stood up. "We'll _leave _then, if that's what you want." I turned to leave and wheeled back on my heel. "What's the silver haired boy's name?"

"Zero," she said crossly.

"Zero what?" Righty asked.

"Kiryu."

Righty, Lefty, and I all gasped. "Kiryu?!"

"I don't even know how you just managed to make all three voices at once."

"You mean the famous clan of hunters?" Lefty asked, shocked. He wasn't taking this very well. Another shock like this and he might have a heart attack.

"Lefty! Hang in there!" Righty said desperately.

"I'm fine," Lefty choked. "I'm fine! Don't worry about--"

Spasms wracked through him.

"LEFTY!" Righty screamed. "NO!"

Lefty hung limp on my wrist.

"LEFTY!" Righty and I yelled.

"I can't go on without Lefty!" Righty said dramatically. "Life isn't worth living without him!"

Only moments later, Righty was limp as well, nothing more than a normal vampire hand, with no personality at all. All it was good for was grabbing onto things and finger painting.

"Righty!" I yelled. "Not you too!"

I heard Kanji sigh behind me and walked out the door, ashamed and depressed. This wasn't just a coincidence; this was a murder. It was all Zero Kiryu's fault. He must have planned it ahead of time and then killed them.

He was going to pay.

"Kiryu!" I spotted him in the hallway. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" he snapped.

"You know very well what!"

"No I don't!"

I paused. He was telling the truth. No lie could ever get by me. I looked at him suspiciously. "You're off the hook…for now."

"Ah, thank you. I was so worried." He rolled his eyes.

I stroked my chin in thought. "Yes…I bet you were…liar!"

He stared at me. "What?"

I loomed over him. "What are your intentions involving my sister?"

"Kanji?"

"Yes," I said thoughtfully. "Kanji."

"I—I don't know!"

"Liar!"

"What am I supposed to say?" he asked, frustrated.

"Do you love her?" I asked before he had time to think. That's what you have to do, act before they can think, before they have time to even process a single thought. You catch them unaware that way.

"I don't know!"

"LIAR!" I hadn't expected him to actually give me a lie. That meant that he really _did _love her; otherwise, he would have told me the truth and said no. He was guilty on all accounts already, and we hadn't even been talking for more than three minutes.

"Why are you so insane?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Who are you to say I'm insane?" I countered, throwing him off his thoughts again. I was too clever for him, wasn't I? He growled and I hissed in reply. "What makes you think you deserve Kanji?"

"I never said I did."

"That's…true." Hm. Puzzling. Puzzling indeed. "Could it be because you are a Level _D?"_

He shrugged dismally and I cocked my head to the side.

"You're an odd one, Kiryu." I smiled. "Perfect." I clapped him on the back. "You're perfect for her. Just don't tell the Kuran kid and everything'll be good."

Kanji

Suzuki.

Is.

Unbearable.

Already he had spent the night having conversations with Lefty and Righty, trying to revive both of them, and then throwing pant-filled balloons and the Sun Dorm because it needed "a touch up." The idiot also managed to find and break the Headmaster's "borrowed" computer, leaving the Headmaster to take it back to wherever he had stolen it from.

The next day, I was woken by Yuki frantically cleaning the room, kicking up clouds of dust that clogged up the air with a feather duster in one hand while also managing to vacuum with the other. Blinding sunlight was streaming in through the window and I hissed, pulling the covers over my head.

"They're all coming back tomorrow!" she said desperately.

"Who?" I asked groggily, peeking out of my little cave. "And do you have any idea what time it is?"

"It's almost noon," she turned the vacuum cleaner off and put the feather duster down as she ran to a bucket and sponge and started madly scrubbing away at the floor. "And it's the last day of holiday break, so all of the other students are coming back tomorrow! This place needs to be spotless when they do!" She sat straight up. "I haven't even started on the Moon Dorm!"

"Have fun with that," I grumbled.

"No! I won't!" she yelled. She was going into a Yuki Frenzy.

"It was sarcastic," I muttered. "Don't take it seriously. Lighten up."

"I DO NOT NEED TO LIGHTEN UP!" it was almost like steam was coming out of her ears. "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO NEEDS TO LIGHTEN UP!"

"I don't think so," I stared at her through the little part in the blankets. "When was the last time you had a CAT scan?"

"Cats? We don't have cats here," her eye twitched.

"Yuki, you need some fresh air. How long have you been cleaning for?"

"Since five this morning,"

"That's seven hours. You need to take a break."

"But there's still so much to do! I haven't even moved onto the other dorms! I managed to get some cleaning done in the main building, but then I had to leave because the teachers are setting things up and I can't stop!" she wailed.

"Then leave me out of it. Go get Zero and tell him to help you. What about Suzuki? You can con him into cleaning. Just tell him that if he cleans enough, Righty and Lefty will be revived."

"But isn't that bad? Tricking people into helping you?"

"Not when it's Suzuki. He's a monkey, not a person."

"How could you say that about your older brother?" she gaped at me—rather, at what she could see of me, which was only a small portion of my face and my eyes—and guffawed.

"Very easily." I recalled every stupid thing he had done, every prank he had played on me, in one horrible moment. When I was about to die and suddenly saw my whole life flash before my eyes, I hope those bits could be left out. Wouldn't that be great? The last thing I see before I go: Suzuki dumping a bucket of fish heads on me from the roof above. Oh yeah. That'd be perfect. I rolled my eyes.

"Well aren't you excited that break is over?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Not at all."

"But you get to see everyone else," she said. "You don't have to spend day and night without any sleep, watching vampires and making sure no stupid human fangirls go after them. You get to lead a normal life."

"Yuki, I'm engaged to a bigheaded pureblood, in love with a Level D, my parents just died, and now my idiot older brother is here wreaking havoc on Cross Academy. On top of everything else, I still don't know why my parents were killed and I have no clue how to lift the curse running through my blood. I'd hardly call it a normal life."

She looked downcast. "Oh yeah. That whole curse thing…."

"I'm working on it."

"Are you really?"

"Kind of."

I really needed to get a move on with lifting the curse; I just hadn't had the opportunity to do any research or experiment with anything. It was still on my list of things to do. It was just continually being bypassed. It wasn't very fun, sitting around thinking about it. I tried to ignore it. But Zero couldn't keep his sanity forever. I could save him. I had the power. Just…the stupid curse….

It needed to go.


End file.
